But you gave me the reason why amp builders are usually deliverying Sovtek, Svetlana and JJ valves in their amps.
Reliability first, money second and then, tone.
Certainly not true in my case. I don't want to keep going on, but I have to refute this.
Although clearly reliability should be a given. Hands up anyone who wants a valve which gives great tone.....for a while? Didn't think so.
In one breath you say that valve choice is personal, then in the next you make the above statement which carries the assumption that everyone agrees with your personal tone choices.
I select valves based on all three criteria, as a balance, but the aural qualities of a valve for me are the overriding issue. They MUST sound good.
Me neither wanted a valve that sounds magic for a week! (hmm, maybe if I had to record some song and wanted this sound to death). That's why I stayed away from EI valves.
Any of those valves sound good. What I wanted to say is that, from a construction point, the Amp builder will prefere reliablility and then money, as soon as the valve has an acceptable sound for their design.
If you didn't try the Gold Lion and Mullard, you don't know how reliable are or if it's there some noticiable improvement. You didn't explore their "aural qualities" and, I can understand it. For you, Sovtek and JJ's are giving you enough for a budget, are working fine in every amp and deliver tone. That's exactly what I'd do in your case. Don't get my wrong. I'm not agaist this, maybe it's just a language's barrier.
My position is quite different. I haven't to order a batch of those valves and, I haven't to satisfy a bunch of customers, where standarization can help a lot. I need to satisfy a single customer (myself) and just order a pair of each to see if I like them or not in each amp.
If after testing all them, I realize that I like more an expensiver valve, I will be worried, since it means that I need to save more cash for a new pair to be fully satisfied or, go for a cheaper one that also works fine and to know what I am loosing in tone for the benefite of my wallet; Then, I will take into account that valve only in the case of song recordings or special situations.
If I'd prefere the cheapest of all them instead, I will be the happier man on the Earth, believe me.
Will expensiver valves worth the extra money?. Probably not. Usually, changes in pre-amp tubes, specially V1 are more dramatic than changes in power amps. And gap between current prodution valves is everytime smaller.
But, I want to check the most representative ones, just to satisfy my curiosity.
