M1200 users, when to retube?

Hi all. I’m coming up on 1 year of ownership of the M1200s. Absolutely no regrets. These are my first experience with tube equipment of any kind. I’ve read that over time the tubes will start to degrade causing the amps to sound “dull and lifeless”. I can’t say I’ve noticed that but again, I’m new to this tube world.

I’ve read a number of posts talking about tube rolling. I’m not talking about that. If you simply want to know when it’s time to replace the tubes with stock equivalents, how do you know it’s time? Is it obvious or is it one of those gradual things that’s obvious after the replacement? My amps will be a year old next month. I would guess they are on 2-3 hours a day, 4-5 days a week. Any help would be appreciated.

21 posts were merged into an existing topic: M1200 Tube Rolling