Tube Reliability:
It's interesting to note that until the 1960's, tubes were used in
every area of electronics including aviation. When people flew on a
commercial airliner, they literally trusted their lives on tube-
powered avionics. So, aside from a common-sense warning to take
care not to break the glass, there is very little reason to be
concerned about the 6SL7GC tubes within your amplifier. Without
them, the musicality of your amp would greatly diminish!
Butler's design has reduced the electronic stress on the tubes to
less than 5% of rated value and NO dangerously high voltages are
needed for operation. Therefore, heat production from the tubes
is minimal. BK Butler has been a pioneer in the use of low-voltage
vacuum tubes and time has proven him correct in his long assertion
that correctly employed, vacuum tubes don't need lethal voltages
to be highly musical. (Just ask
Eric Johnson
- repeatedly voted by
Guitar Player Magazine
as the world's best guitarist,
Billy Gibbons
of ZZ Top
, or
Pink Floyd's David Gilmour
if BK Butler's low voltage
tube guitar pedals aren't the most reliable and best sounding ever
made!)
What this means to you is that the tubes installed in your new
Butler amplifier should last as long as the other high quality
electronic components in the design. No special tube care,
replacement, matching, biasing or maintenance is usually
necessary. In the unlikely event a tube becomes faulty*, each tube
is connected to the power module via a high-reliability multi-pin
connector so replacement is simplified.
Finally, the most likely reason you invested in your new Butler Audio
amplifier was to enjoy the sonic superiority vacuum tubes create.
Please enjoy this revolutionary design BK Butler worked so long to
produce. We're confident you'll have many trouble-free years of
listening pleasure!
- Everyone at Butler Audio, Inc
*The only external visual check possible by the customer is to look through the front panel
louvers for the 2 glowing orange/red tips at the top of each tube during operation. The
blue illumination should continue, but if a particular channel becomes inoperative and its
tube has no glowing filament tips, that tube is likely defective and should be replaced.