Replace tubes yearly?

The primary reason for leaving solid state on all of the time is because transistors will not degrade nearly as quickly as will tubes from constant use and solid state gear takes much longer to warm up than tube gear.  The primary downside to leaving solid state on all of the time is that this exposes the gear to more mishaps, such as powerline surges and brownout (undervoltage can be particularly hard on solid state gear) and weather-related mishap.  Also, while transistors have a much longer life than do tubes, they are not nearly as easy to replace, and it is sometimes the case that there are no replacement parts available many years later when they do need replacement.  By contrast, most 80 and 90 year old tube gear is easily serviceable.  

Quality of the tubes you're using plays a role. That's why people pay a lot more money for new old stock.  Presumably they made tubes a lot better a while back than they do now.

@rar1 This is exactly what Paul said:

"Honestly, if you have tube equipment you’re used to replacing the tubes. I do it every year [gesturing toward his equipment], you know, you just have to. That’s kind of a given when you have vacuum tubes."

So no need to smugly lecture everyone else about how we misconstrued things. Fine, if you’re a hi-fi expert you may have understood that Paul was making a generalization. But in the context of this video, and many of his others, he positions himself as the authority on the matter and addresses questions from people who do not seem to be experts and the videos are clearly being watched by people who aren’t experts, like me. We see him as the expert he is and it is not "going off" to take him at face value.

And no one is really "pissing" on anyone. Paul puts himself and his videos out there as a presumed expert, if not the expert. If his opinions and even his off-the-cuff remarks are seen as off the mark by other experts or misunderstood by us "sports fans" who aren’t, it is hardly "pissing" on him to point it out.

@n80 -

Hi.  I wasn't smugly lecturing anyone.  I remembered Paul's comments differently than the way you originally presented them.  I provided links to 2 of his videos for people to judge for themselves.   

Some of the comments made were taking swipes at Paul and others.  I didn't think it was warranted. 

Rich  

@rar1 +1.

That's how I saw your posts.