"i'm thinking the tube amp, solely b/c the tube is the hottest part, and its failure is accomodated for in the design (you simply plug in another tube). a hot running SS amp will eventually burn out resistors / transistors, and joe audiophile will be forced to send that to the factory for replacement."
You are correct. In addition, some solid-state amps use output transistors that go out of production, so if you lose a transistor, you're in trouble. Caps are no big deal for either SS or tube designs, as they are relatively cheap and easy to replace (you can easily get 20 to 30 years out of them on a very high quality tube amp, even designs biased in Class A). If reliability is your concern and you are looking down the road, buy a tube amp that uses the same output tubes used in guitar amps (KT-66's, EL-34's, 6550's), as the Marshalls and Fenders of the world sell half a million tube guitar amps every year and you'll always be able to find replacement tubes.
In any event, as you noted, a broken transistor amp has to be opened up. A tube amp just requires re-tubing and re-biasing, and once that is done, you've basically got a new amp.
You are correct. In addition, some solid-state amps use output transistors that go out of production, so if you lose a transistor, you're in trouble. Caps are no big deal for either SS or tube designs, as they are relatively cheap and easy to replace (you can easily get 20 to 30 years out of them on a very high quality tube amp, even designs biased in Class A). If reliability is your concern and you are looking down the road, buy a tube amp that uses the same output tubes used in guitar amps (KT-66's, EL-34's, 6550's), as the Marshalls and Fenders of the world sell half a million tube guitar amps every year and you'll always be able to find replacement tubes.
In any event, as you noted, a broken transistor amp has to be opened up. A tube amp just requires re-tubing and re-biasing, and once that is done, you've basically got a new amp.