If you had to choose: tube amp or tube pre-amp?

I want the cleanest possible unstressed Class A happy little signal to come from my SS preamp and get massaged by the tubes in my amp before it hits my ears. Then I can blame the amp if it's too greasy. Besides, in a tube amp you often get large (and small) tubes to look at and burn your fingers on, and that's important. Often tube preamps have hidden tubes inside someplace so you just have to imagine them, so if I ever do buy a tube preamp I really have to have exposed tubes. Ever sit and stare at a transistor? No, you haven't, unless you've been a pathetic hostage tied to a bench in some maniac's audio repair shop...but that's another story...I also use a little tube headphone amp sometimes...mostly because it's cute.

If you worry about the financial cost of re-tubing an amp (although perhaps only equaling the annual cost of leaving your SS gear ON ALL THE TIME), you need to factor in the MENTAL cost also...thousands of suggestions and opinions about re-issues from Russian factory workers on the Volga and Chinese fancy presentation boxed electron beam bottles, antique esoterica harvested from rusty Swedish radios and Cold War East German helicopters...it's insane, but worth it if you can take it. Get clearance from your therapist, and be prepared to lose all your friends...*sigh*...