Sasonmusic, it's a lovely unit even in solid state mode. However, and sorry about this, please do use other tubes. Don't go nuts on rolling. The RCA Cleartops are pretty cheap and readily available and will do wonders for the tube output sound. It's only two tubes and it's real easy to switch them out. Trust me on this one -- I did go crazy and tried lots of tubes over a couple of months and finally settled on something more esoteric, but the Cleartops were right up there and were much more affordable and available. Try it ... you'll like it!
By the way, keep the interconnects to the preamp as short as possible.
By the way, keep the interconnects to the preamp as short as possible.