Spare tubes? How many?

Of course it's easy to get carried away in this process.

I have one amp which uses a quad of KT88's. So I bought a spare quad. They were a different brand. Tried the spares and liked them MUCH better. Then I bought a new spare set (different brand). Tried them and liked them MUCH better... I think I'm up to 5 quads now hanging around. And of course I've got a set that I truly love in the amp, and lots of sets that will work, but no same-brand replacement as my favorites.

It's a slippery slope if you start getting into tube rolling while buying your spares! And that's without considering all the perils of NOS tubes. Saw a nice set of Genelex Gold Lions going for more than I paid for my amp!

Fair warning!

Thanks all...looks like I need to start budgeting for some backups. (Dfhaleycko - Thanks for the warning. Ain't going down that path! I'm running upgrades over the stock tubes now. Should be able to order same same for all 3 types).

I guess I am an tube hog... :-)
I have four extra pairs; but they are vintage 1940's tubes so worth keeping...

I have always found that 1940-1970 tubes are unequaled by newer tubes. Years ago I began buying good buys on a broad range of miniatures as well as output tubes. I have nearly 1000 tubes. They have been a great investment, even though now I use both a solid state amp and line stage. Tubes that one could buy for $8 in 1970 now sell for hundreds of dollars, some for more than $1000.

It is one of the costs of using tubes that you need to have a reserve stash.

Wow!

It is great to see that I am not the only one with a sh*t load of extra tubes.

Luckily, I have a Lamm hybrid amp (M2.1), which only uses
one 6922 tube in each monoblock.
But to make up for the fact that I only need two tubes, I have the following pairs of tubes:

The stock Sovteks;
Two pairs of inexpensive new tubes;
Two pairs of medium priced NOS tubes (Orange Globes);
And, one pair of expensive NOS tubes (Pinched waist);

6 pairs of tubes which supposedly will last me a couple of thousand hours per pair.

6 pairs x 2,000 hours = 12,000 hours.

12,000 hours divided by my average of 4 hours per week (which includes an hour of warm up time) for my listening sessions = 3,000 weeks

3,000 weeks divided by 52 weeks a year = 58 years.

My conclusions from my calculations are:
One, I am not listening nearly enough!
Two, I have way too many pairs of tubes!
And Three, apparently my daughter, who will inherit my gear, is set for life too!

PS Anyone know of a cheap (and reliable!) place to buy more NOS tubes?

:-)