Vintage tubes skyrocketing in price

The only answer I can think of off hand is to thoroughly explore current production tubes before you venture off into NOS. You might be surprised that in many instances the differences are not that great and perhaps not worth the extra money. I've found that I'm able to use mostly current production stuff, except for a couple of critical places.

Yeah, you know the run-up of the price of vintage sports cars has me pissed off too. I want an Aston Martin DB5 and $400k just seems too much. That makes nice cars exclusive to the wealthy! I am not happy.

WTF!? not being happy about it is not going to do anything about it. If anything, the price of tubes are going to continue to go up - as will anything in a supply/demand market where the supply is limited and demand outstrips supply. Welcome to capitalism. If you want some, get them now. If you dont' like it, there's always solid state or current production tubes. Be glad those are at least still being made.

-Ed