Tube Power vs Solid State Power


I continually hear Tube power is more powerful than Solid State Power. IE; “A 20 watt tube amp’s power is like a 60 watt Solid State Amp’s Power” and so on… Is this true ???

I always think of the “What’s Heavier, a pound of Feathers or pound of Rocks story?” A pound is a pound right ? 
Maybe someone could offer some thoughts and explain if this is true or not. 
Thanks
flasd

Showing 1 response by sokogear

It's not 20 watts on a tube amp vs. on a SS amp. It's 20 watts on any amp vs any other amp. Watts per channel is measured under certain conditions which can be varied to get to the desired marketing result of a spec.

You need to listen to the amps you are comparing, ignore the specs, unless they tell you some situation where they won't work, like speaker sensitivity under 90dB. If you never turn it up, maybe you'll like tubes.