Adjusting tubes for bias and other tube hassles

The responses so far deal with tube amps. I understood from posts here that preamps were less of a hassle and good place to enter the tube experience. The preamp tubes are subject to less stresses, run cooler, last longer, etc. So I have started with a tubed preamp and am happy with the easy of operation and the improvement of sound over solid state.

Lots of tube preamps don't require manual biasing. If a tube gets noisy switch sides to determine which tube is noisy, and then replace.

Also typically you should warm up tube amps about 30 minutes before biasing.

Lamm recommends a Fluke meters (Specific models on their website) because cheap Multimeters are not accurate enough. My Music Reference RM9 has bias lights built-in which made life really easy!

hey dherzog, fwiw, i switched to a int tube amp that was affordable, modified, and weighs under 50 lbs and it sounds pretty darn great to me. i adjust bias every few mos and it takes 10 minutes max. true they need warm up time but even ss amps should warm up a little. i was just like you, go out and get a decent affordable tube amp from a reputable name and i bet you will not go back to ss. don't let gloom and doom types scare you away... and don't believe you need a 90 lb. amp and $5000 to enjoy tube sound. if you can change a light bulb and work a screwdriver you can handle tube amps :) keep in mind vacuum tubes have been in home stereos for a lot longer than ss and our parents did not all die in house fires and freak explosions! i still have a massive vacuum tube in my new sony tv. just don't bath with it and you will survive.