Tube amp power watts equivalent to Solid State?

My 12wpc SET monoblocks (845 output tubes, EL-34 drivers) designed and built by a friend sounded much more authoritative and powerful than the CJ Premier 12 monoblocks (140 wpc) I used to have.

So, for me, this contention -- tube watts delivering something more than SS watts -- must have SOME validity. It may not make sense, but I heard it, at length, playing all kinds of music, in my own system. Ten years later I'm still astonished at the twelve-watters. And my speakers are not of the ultra-sensitive variety.

Fortunately I'm not an engineer or I'd know this couldn't happen :-)

Apologies. As Almarg pointed out, I was comparing one tube amp to another tube amp rather than tube to SS. Duh. Only point, I guess, is that SET amp watts are more potent than push-pull amp watts, and nobody asked about that. Sorry.

To clarify something else, the speakers I've been driving with my 12-watters include ProAc Response 3 and a variety of Gallos, all in the 86-88 dB range.