Is pure class A ss the equal to tubes?

No, a pure class A ss amp is better than tubes (generally speaking). It will have deeper, tighter bass and more extended treble. And these differences are more apparent at low volume levels because of the way the human hearing mechanism works... Since you already have a good tube preamp, I'd go ss on the amp. Just my opinion, based on my own experience; YMMV.

Although I have made a case for the class A, solid-state amps (earlier in thread), my personal preference is for hybrid amps with a tube input stage and solid-state outputs. My feeling is that this setup provides the best compromise between liquidity and linearity...

Hey, I was into tubes for years (for about 10 years I wouldn't consider anything else) and still like them. They are most beguiling to the innocent. I just got tired of the microphonic problems, the constant tube rolling and tube replacement, and their relatively unreliable and inconsistant nature in general. And good tubes ain't exactly cheap anymore.

Now that some companies are producing better sounding solid state designs I see no reason to return to the problems and continual disappointments of tube amps. They almost always soften the bass, and the high frequencies, and although they can sound nice in the midrange, so can good solid state. My hybrid amps use one input tube per channel and that's all the euphony (2nd and 4th order distortion) I presently require, thank you very much. :)