First time turning on the amp. Purchased 6 month old amp. Arrived yesterday. Somehow had the patience for it to sit for 24 hours...room temperature. The following outlines my steps to turning on:

1. Put tubes in (inspected each tube, nothing of note that looked amiss)
2. Connected power cord (VHC1) from amp to power conditioner
3. Connected speaker cables (correctly) & volume all the way down
4. Turned on L channel...thumbs up. Very slight hum from speaker
5. Turned on R channel...stock 5u4 rectifier tube flashed, fuse blows
6. Replaced 5 amp fuse with spare
7. Replaced rectifier tube with a Valve Art 274b (loose base)
8. Turned on amp in same order. All's good, but a bit of tube "spitting" sound from R channel.
9. Turned off the amp as I'm not comfortable with 274b tube having loose base.

My game plan is to get two new rectifier tubes. I have some questions.

Why would a relatively new tube blow? (luck of the draw?)

Given that I have to get some new tubes, what would you all recommend I start with? I'd like to get some tubes that have a high reliability reputation.

Any other advice, insights, etc, would be greatly appreciated.

Steve,

Thank you for your reply. First class.

The input tubes are the stock red tipped tubes. Do you have a preferred NOS dealer for the 5u4 tubes? I typically go to Andy Bouman  I'm pretty sure he'll recommend the RCA.

Do you have a recommendation for the input tubes? I typically prefer warmth with clarity and dynamics along the entire spectrum.

Thank you for your time and assistance.

Jon