OK guys - so I put 100 hours on the new tubes.
At first they were a bit "thick" sounding but immediately were much improved over the stock tubes.
At 25 hours they were a bit hard sounding and glassy sounding but more clear.
By 50 hours that pretty much all went away and they sound fantastic and the bass is outstanding. It does not sound like the same unit at all.
I was debating on ordering a set of back up NOS tubes or trying something different and I decided on trying something different and then choosing a winner and ordering a extra set of the winners.