Thanks for the info Lordy, I knew I could count on you. As I said, just reading the way people rave on about NOS tubes is enough to make me very skeptical, as anyone who raves THAT much about something that's been sitting in a warehouse probably just feels the need to justify. As a buyer of a tube amp (soon), I am pretty sure that I'll get tones that I like without searching like a madman for those elusive EL34s.