It's not all that astonishing. After all, the working bits are all sealed away in a vacuum - no corrosive atmosphere aging the materials. I have first hand experience with military parts stocking - lots of stock was never used. There is, however, a finite supply, so I'm building up a stock. Brent Jessee has been a pleasure to deal with - I trust him. I'm really satisfied (friggin' stunned) by the VT-231s he sold me.
I guess I'm becoming more and more of a tubehead. My son and I just finished boxing the X350. I'm going to sell it now - I'm sold on the VAC. It took me a lot of years to reach the land of valves, but I'm here to stay. Do not, however, read that as an indictment of solid state. I still think that Pass amp is superb. I hate to sell it, but it's stupid to have it sitting idly on a counter. It has a lot of pleasure to give the next lucky owner.
It was funny, looking back, that the very first piece of actual kit that I owned was early solid state and broken when I got it - due to a mishap with one of the cheesy speaker connectors. There were but 4 output transistors, so I replaced them all with new ones I bought at Radio Shack. It was a cheap and easy fix, and I suppose I was lucky that none of the surrounding circuitry was damaged. How in the hell is the EPA allowing the manufacture of compact fluorescent light bulbs? Besides, responsible manufacturing methods can address the environmental impact of production as long as the cost doesn't become prohibitive. If I'm willing to pay what I have for some 70+ year old tubes, I'd be amenable to paying the same amount for brand new ones built to the same specifications. I suspect there's a decent enough market support such a venture.
