Why do Tube Amps sound more romantic v SS amps

You don't have to understand how a tube works to know if you like-em. No solid state device can sound like a tube for audio. But if you can combine tubes with solid state, you get the best of both worlds, nothing new about this design. One of my amps uses a triode tube on the input and power mosfets in the output stage. It sounds magnificent to say the least, with a full midrange. When I remove my ss amp and install the hybrid, its like day and night, and the enjoyment level goes way up.

SS amps have come a long way in the new $1K and higher cost designs. However, the right tubes can play with an immediate sound that isextremely open and just great. I never heard a SS amp quite as good in this respect. But, most tube sound is accomplished in the tube preamp section and I would be ok with a tube preamp and SS power amp.

The advantage of tubes.

1. When you have a sound change because of worn drivers or outputs you pop in a new tube and presto, like a new amp. 

2. You can change the sound for your new speakers by changing tubes. For me trading out the EL34s for KT77s was a large improvement in sound. 

3. The tube preamp tubes can also change the sound as well to taylor and component matching.

Tube vs transistor sound is personal taste as far as what you like in sound and the differences between them. Both are great depending on how it is matched with the components you have. Enjoy both!

@vuch 

+1

Partner doesn’t care about my system… it is my thing… but she instantly liked tubes when I put them in my system (women typically have much better hearing than males and are very sensitive to high frequency distortion). 
 

Once I moved to tubes in a component, there has been no going back.

I had SS for decades. Then a buddy brought over a tube amp for me to try in the rig. The difference was like night and day. Even my wife, who really doesn’t care that much, commented on how much better the tube amp sounded.

The last couple of years I’ve had four different tube amps in my rig. Two that friends have let me try and two that I’ve purchased. They are in order: Prima Luna Dialogue One integrated, Dynaco ST-70 power, Prima Luna EVO400 power, NAT Audio 805 Generator mono blocks.

Talk about beating a dead horse. How many discussions have there been between solid state vs. tubes. Belt vs. direct drive. Moving coil vs. moving iron.

There are no hard fast rules. It all depends on the design and build quality. And personal preference.

Tubes in my mind are more for equipment hobbyists who like to experiment without changing boxes. And don't mind the heat/increased AC bill.

Hard to generalize - horses for courses.

I just try a given amp out in a system and then compare with whatever else I have at the time and choose whichever set up sound s the best to me.

I run all tube into some big Wilsons, but solid state into a pair of electrostatics and also into some big Vandersteens.

I am less interested in trying to find a 'rule' about what sounds better and more concerned with using what does sound best in a given system.

My approach is to use a hybrid. To my ears, Tubes are really good for Mids and Highs, and SS is good for Low. I drive my Midrange and tweeter with tubes (Class A SE 300b 20w x2), and the bass is handled by Subwoofers (Class D x2). For me, this gives me the best sound which works for diverse genera. It all bottles down to preference. 

It’s great that there is a choice.  One doesn’t have to be ‘better’ than the other…just ‘different.’  There is more to music enjoyment than just the sound, including enjoyment of the equipment.  It’s an individual matter of choice.  Also we may have physiological differences that affects what sounds good from person to person.

GOOOOO  BUCKEYES!!!!

As stated above about the SIT3 " better resolution and transient speed ". IME, these two characteristics, along with lower noise ( electrically, mechanically and acoustically ), having tuneful, robust control of the woofers ( along with the dog houses, to some Lascala owners....but not all ), and the ability to leave everything on 24/7, as I never know when I might want to listen to something ( generally daily, mood specific ). I dislike the warm up / break in time of most audio gear. These are reasons why I switched to ss many years ago. I believe I would very much enjoy Ralph's Class D amps, for they have tone and warmth ( as his tube amps ), but offer the strengths of good / great ss. Remember...this is me, as I understand how different each of us are, and people should buy what they like. My best to all, MrD.

This is a great read.  I really appreciate people, Engineers, Manufacturers, etc. contributing to a well thought out and discussed topic like this one.

I have to say, that I have repaired, serviced, designed, built tube and solid state amplifiers over my ehem..... 45 or more years as an Engineer and I have to say that many people that compare solid state to tube are not comparing apples to apples in terms of specifications on the amps.

Also, most I have encountered do not level match before comparing anything.  Then they attribute differences in volume to mean better or worst.

But, I have found that the specifications of transistors do indeed change over the years and usage.  Although the amp may work, those transistors are not like new.

Take a 15-20 year old (or older) amp and remove the output transistors. measure the characteristics, then get brand new (if you can find them) same transistors and measure them.  Won't be close.  Better yet, if you knew or documented the specs of transistors before you put them in the amp, then 20 years later removed them and measured them.... not close to original.

Anyone trying to tell you that transistors don't degrade is no accurate.

But, I have done A/B comparisons of tube vs solid state amps.  level matched and similar specs.  in the same systems.  let me tell you, for excellent tube or solid state amps.  I'll take either.  They both sound excellent.

And great designers have solved the major distortion problems with solid state amps years ago.  

There is some great stuff out there people.

Look at class D now.  @athmosphere (Ralph) is right.  I can't wait to hear his new Class D amp.  He knows people are going to A/B his class D amp with his tube amp to determine if they can decide which is best.  For him to market a Class D amp when he spent decades (still do) designing and marketing tube amps, well, it must be worth hearing.

enjoy

Please try to measure distortion of tube amp while adjusting bias/balance of the output tubes, and you’ll see how sensitive it is. Then please repeat the same after 50+ hrs. If you are luky, and your AB tubes are aging the same pace, then distortions will not increase much. There is a lso big issue with output transformers in the tube amp, depending on core magnetics, resistance of coils, symmetry etc you will get variety of imbalance/distortion/FR problems, which does not exist in SS

@westcoastaudiophile 

We've done that plenty of times. No measurable difference. You can avoid a lot of the imbalance issues in output transformers by using a Circlotron, since the issues in the transformer are usually related to DC components, which are minimized in a Circlotron. This is so successful that Circlotron amps made in the 1950s were class B and had no crossover distortion at all. However such amps are rare.

IME tube amps suffer less from corrosion than solid state. I've serviced literally thousands of amplifiers over the last 50 years. You can have a well preserved solid state amp that shows no signs of corrosion but its semiconductors are failing on that account. If a tube amp is given the same treatment its likely the only service it will need (in time) is filter capacitors.

About the only place I see your age argument holding any water has to do with filter capacitors. Because tube amps run warmer, the filter caps have a shorter life than in solid state amps. So 30 years instead of 35, unless the designer placed the filter caps in such a way that they really ran too warm.

"You may not get 100,000 hours on the equipment before corrosion has had a chance to damage the semiconductors"

-good point on corrosion! In my experience corrosion hits tube amp sooner than SS! Just look at the power transformer, capacitors, output transformer inside the 20yr old tube amp.

@atmasphere agree with you on tubes could match better than PMOS/NMOS or N/P BJTs. Please try to measure distortion of tube amp while adjusting bias/balance of the output tubes, and you’ll see how sensitive it is. Then please repeat the same after 50+ hrs. If you are luky, and your AB tubes are aging the same pace, then distortions will not increase much. There is a lso big issue with output transformers in the tube amp, depending on core magnetics, resistance of coils, symmetry etc you will get variety of imbalance/distortion/FR problems, which does not exist in SS> 

"Why do Tube Amps sound more innacurate v SS amps"

Fixed it for ya.

I just purchased a Bryston 2.5 cubed amp (for small 14’ x 12’ x 8’ room) I can’t quite wrap my head around this amp. For example, I have two or three go-to female vocalist tracks (one is- Sam Brown’s solo on PF’s live (“The Great Gig in the Sky”) that literally gives me goosebumps or makes the hair on my arms stand up every time I play it, with the tube amp. I’ve yet to experience the “hair on my arms stand-up” playing this track on the Bryston ss amp?

@keeferdog 

In your case, the simple answer is the tube amp is sounding more real.

not really, AB imbalance does contribute directly into third (odd) order harmonic increase. Perfectly balanced second (even) only order harmonics distortion, AB designs “distort" A and B the same way only if tubes are perfectly matched, which NEVER happened. it is very hard to pick matched tube replacement, which will age at the same pace to the <1% point.

Good designed SS amps have many AB transistors in parallel, which reduces imbalance problems. SS amps I have all are “maintenance free”, and there is no need to change any transistors due to aging degradation in 100 000 hrs life time.

@westcoastaudiophile 

We’ll have to agree to disagree since my experience is different from yours! FWIW transistors rarely match at that well, often being quite a bit further apart than tubes. But they are a lot cheaper so you can afford to go through a few to find a decent enough match, a hidden cost in case anyone is wondering why high end solid state amps might cost more than their mid-fi brethren.

Our tube amps parallel of a lot of output devices as well, since they are lower power tubes and a lot are needed to drive speakers directly without a an output transformer. So we have the same advantage of the differences ironing out in the wash as you suggest happens in the output section of a traditional A or AB solid state amp. As these tubes age they tend to drift towards a common value; if tested a few months down the road they tend to test extremely close to each other! As a result (and also because of how the bias is controlled by a very low impedance circuit) the Bias and DC offset of the OTL is thus quite stable and not prone to drift. That kind of stability is part of why we’ve been able to stay in business nearly 50 years.

You may not get 100,000 hours on the equipment before corrosion has had a chance to damage the semiconductors, depending on how long it takes to log that much time. So there may well be a need to replace a device well before that. Just FWIW.

@atmasphere "an imbalance in power tubes will cause a 2nd harmonic, not a third"

not really, AB imbalance does contribute directly into third (odd) order harmonic increase. Perfectly balanced second (even) only order harmonics distortion, AB designs “distort" A and B the same way only if tubes are perfectly matched, which NEVER happened. it is very hard to pick matched tube replacement, which will age at the same pace to the <1% point.

Good designed SS amps have many AB transistors in parallel, which reduces imbalance problems. SS amps I have all are “maintenance free”, and there is no need to change any transistors due to aging degradation in 100 000 hrs life time.

I don't know where you get your tube amps from, there are tube amps from decades ago still running strong. Once solid state amp give up they take out circuit boards sometimes and you can't get those boards anymore because they are proprietary. Tube amps can be point to point wired and can be fixed at anytime in the future.

@invalid "with simple designs fewer parts count” which leads to higher distortion, shorter “relatively good performance" lifespan, and higher maintenance cost, in order to bring tube amp back to spec. SS amps aging at much slower (x100) pace then tube, pl admit it.

@keeferdog

My last three sets of Speakers have been Sonus Faber. I was a long time user of solid state amps. They are really good (in general) at detail and slam. Well designed tubed amps frequently capture the warmth and natural beauty of music… the human voice for sure. Since I finally switched to tubed amps. I’ll not be switching back.

Quite by process of evolving my system I converged on Sonus Faber, Audio Research components and Transparent. This, it turns out to be a known synergistic combination.

I’ve yet to experience the “hair on my arms stand-up” playing this track on the Bryston ss amp?

When you have a system that works, try to suppress the upgradeitis. 

This is a question, I’m presently having a problem with. 
For the last three years, I’ve really enjoyed using a tube pre (Audio Hungary) with a tube amplifier (PrimaLuna) with my Sonus Faber (Sonetto lll) speakers. I love this combination as Sonus Faber speakers seems to “love” tubes and this combo has great synergy in my room. I recently got curious and wanted to try a ss amp. I  just purchased a Bryston 2.5 cubed amp (for small 14’ x 12’ x 8’ room) I can’t quite wrap my head around this amp. For example, I have two or three go-to female vocalist tracks (one is- Sam Brown’s solo on PF’s live (“The Great Gig in the Sky”) that literally gives me goosebumps or makes the hair on my arms stand up every time I play it, with the tube amp. I’ve yet to experience the “hair on my arms stand-up” playing this track on the Bryston ss amp? Thoughts? 

what is “”than that”, atmasphere?

Push-Pull amp tubes misbalance cause increase of odd harmonics, even 5% misbalance is causing more that 0.1% dist. increase easily.

keeping tube amp in a good performance condition is very costly, period. if not, you’ve got a “romance”

@westcoastaudiophile 

The statement to which I was responding mentioned that bias would be shifting in as little as 50 hours as well as resistors and capacitors. The simple fact is any tube amp is far more stable than that.

FWIW an imbalance in power tubes will cause a 2nd harmonic, not a third. The push-pull nature of the amp will cancel a lot of it but some will still be present due to the mismatch itself. Also FWIW dept.: the 3rd harmonic is treated much the same way by the ear/brain system as the 2nd in that it tends to be innocuous. Like the 2nd it does have the advantage in a tube amp of masking higher ordered harmonics- that is literally why tube amps tend to be smoother than traditional solid state (class D amps can make lower ordered harmonics in the same way, so they can share this characteristic with tubes depending on the design).

You are right about tubes being costly! They have always been expensive, which is why high efficiency speakers were so common back when tubes were the only game in town.

....why are tube amps according to people who own them say the sound is more say romantic sound vs SS amp ? 

General statements about the sound qualities of individual designs are a little too broad sweeping. You really have to evaluate each component for yourself and find a sound that you prefer. If you want a recommendation for tube gear that sounds romantic or one that sounds dry, there are plenty of examples of each out there. 

Maybe I should have tried the F3.The F7 was a miserable disappointment with my high efficiency speakers.

For nearly forty years my system used tubes of various sorts.  About 2016 or so I was using two pair of Cary Audio 2a3 SET monoblocks to amplify the midrange and super tweeter horn drivers in my triamplified fully horn loaded DIY speakers.  Then I read the Six Moons Audio review of First Watt F3 single gain stage, single ended, Class A, JFET output transistors amp.  According to the reviewer the F3 was the first SS amp to better SETs at their own game.  Unseen and unheard I bought a F3 from Reno HiFi.  I was so pleased with the SQ I bought a second F3 stereo amp and used them to replace the Cary Audio 2a3 monoblocks.  I have never regretted the change.  The First Watt F3s have all the immediacy warmth and romance of the SETs plus better resolution, transient speed musically appropriate detail.  Also I certainly don't mind  avoiding the hassle of slow tube degradation and the need to search out good 2a3 bottles at affordable prices.

Thank you, @xcool  , I must have been feeling romantic at the time.

Hey @immatthewj,  love your description on tubes.  Well done 😀👍

Tubes are kind of like living beings.

You put them in when they are brand new, the early spring of their life,  and they are stiff and awkward.

As they get some hours on them they start to breathe and take on more life.

As they begin to mature, you realize, "Hey, these things have some legs under them!"

When they are in the summer of their life, they hit their prime, their stride, and they exude a magnificent and glorious sonic presence.

As they begin into the early autumn of their life, their beauty compares to that of a day in October; the sun sets earlier but it still has a warm glow in the afternoon, and that is accentuated by the red and gold leaves drifting down.  It's beautiful, but it will be over. 

Late fall turns to winter and it is time to perform euthanasia and then contact an adoption agency.

Anyway, I like my vacuum tube components but they may not be for everyone.  I can respect that also.

@jumia still beg to differ, Klipsch, Volti, Audio Note, QLN, JBL, Bache, Zu, Fritz, Raven Audio, Spatial, KLH, DeVores, Sf, and I could go on and on.

Not SS or Tube it is watts and efficiencies if you are using flea watt tube amps.

Your statement maybe true for mass produced mid-fi. 

Think you need to broaden your horizons as there are many modern tube amplifier builders. 

Kick around these pages and other sites and you will see. 

“tube amp sound changes almost every 50hr due to tube emissions degradation, bias-balance degradation., accelerated resistor/capacitor aging, etc‘.

Just not a remotely true. I have thousands of hours on tube amps with no even minuscule different in well over a couple thousand hours.

Romance. LOL.

@aseaman007

What is better to own cost wise sound advantage single ended and push pull ?

Did anyone answer this part of your question? I may have missed it, I am basically blind in one eye, and I do miss things.

My understanding of electronic theory is limited, but I believe that push-pull is a more efficient way to make power, and therefore, if all else is equal, push-pull watts are cheaper than SET watts. But I am personally NOT saying one is better than the other.

I have a friend that says his pair of (SET) Cary 805s are the best thing since white bread. If you have some spare time, put those in as a search engine and see what comes up. You could also read what Dennis Had has to say about his SET (I think I remember that they are called "Inspire") amps. In a nutshell, he claims that with the right speaker (a fairly efficient one) they literally breathe.

On the other hand, about 25 years ago I was buying some tubes (over the phone) from Andy at Vintage tubes, and I engaged him in a conversation comparing the two (SET & push pull) and he was telling me about what 200 watts of "pure class A" push-pull sounded like, and I believe I remember he used the term "liquid fire" in an orgasmic tone of voice.

As for my own experience, I have owned three tube amps & they have all been push-pull. They have, at various times, all performed magic for me. But magic is a subjective & relative term, and remember that I specified "for me."

On edit: and I don’t think "romantic" was necessarily a bad modifier for you to use. "Romantic" is in the ears and eyes of the beholder. When I sit down with a glass of wine or harder liquor or even a beer to enjoy the sound of 23 vacuum tubes, that is about as close as I get to romance these days.

jerryg123,

Maybe for legato speakers, which is nice, but my comment is an overall comment for most speakers.

We live in a solid state amp world and most speakers are not well designed for tube amps. So keep this in mind when you're buying a tube amp.

"Tube amps in general are far more stable than that!” 

what is “”than that”, atmasphere?

Push-Pull amp tubes misbalance cause increase of odd harmonics, even 5% misbalance  is causing more that 0.1% dist. increase easily.

keeping tube amp in a good performance condition is very costly, period. if not, you’ve got a “romance” 

@jumia just not true.

Legato Unum – Sonner Audio

I have heard that most speaker designs are built to deal with solid-state amplifiers. Add that buying a tube amp does not flourish with modern day speakers.  Wish I could recall specifics as to why this is.  Maybe someone else does.

The Legato Series was engineered in a way that they can be driven by a small or large vacuum tube or solid state amplifier and easy placement or set up in a room. Sophisticated cabinet design utilizing one piece molded curve cabinet, state of the speaker drivers, and high quality crossover components work in harmony with our Symmetrical Panoramic design crossover network to deliver a natural sound, effortless micro and macro dynamics, huge soundstage with a sense of air around the musician and instrument while maintaining music emotion.

This series was created to deliver musical expression, huge soundstage and vivid imaging on a small foot print with a more attainable price point.

tube amp sound changes almost every 50hr due to tube emissions degradation, bias-balance degradation., accelerated resistor/capacitor aging, etc

This statement is incorrect. Tube amps in general are far more stable than that! With our amps its quite typical to not have to adjust the DC Offset after several months of operation. Back when we had a Bias control on our amps (about 17 years ago) people made similar comments about the bias not needing adjustment. If the amp is any kind of quality, its made out of resistors and capacitors that take 3-4 orders of magnitude to age out, similar to solid state in that regard.

+1 "Tube Amps sound more romantic” “romance" cost a lot of money though :-)

I disagree on comparing all tube amps to all SS amps ! There are amazing sounding/performing/powerful SS amps! I saw some very good tube amp products, simple and genius as well! In general, SS amp aging stabilizes after about 100hr run time, while tube amp aging never..  

1) tube amp sound changes almost every 50hr due to tube emissions degradation, bias-balance degradation., accelerated resistor/capacitor aging, etc

2) most of good “coloration” (aka tube amp specific distortions) of tube amp caused by tube's type, tube aging condition, output transformer problems such as core-magnetics-linearity-inductance-mutual and actual-resistance-inter-coil capacitance, linearity in the of tubes’ used, and regular bias-balance adjustment. 

To understand the dichotomy in tube versus solid state one must start forty or more years ago. Back then virtually all solid state was lean, trebly, and hard sounding. Tube equipment was warm and rolled off the treble and was wooly in the bass.

This statement is false. 65 years ago Harmon Kardon made the Citation 2 and a few years later the Citation 5, both of which had 100KHz response. The ’softness’ in the high end of tubes is correct. The brightness of solid state isn't- and is caused by distortion.

Generally speaking there has been a failure in the industry to recognize that the ear converts distortion of any kind into tonality: hence the 2nd harmonic imparts ’warmth’ and unmasked higher ordered harmonics as often experienced in solid state gear imparts harshness and brightness. The other inconvenient truth about the ear is that it uses the higher ordered harmonics to sense sound pressure.

These harmonics also have a lot to say about how instruments sound; if additional harmonics are present the ear will perceive things as being brighter than real life.

Tube amps generally have more higher ordered harmonic content than solid state amps do, but because of the ear’s masking principle (where a louder sound masks the presence of a quieter sound) their prodigious 2nd and 3rd harmonic mask the higher orders, allowing the amp to sound nice and smooth.

In case its not obvious the primary sonic differences between tubes and solid state, their ’sonic signature’, is really their ’distortion signature’.

If you could build a solid state amp with the same distortion signature as a tube amp, it would sound like a tube amp. That sort of thing is really hard to do with conventional A/AB solid state amps. But apparently it is possible with class D, since in some class D amps the things that cause distortion tend to create lower ordered harmonics (not talking about all class D amps, as they seem to have more variability in sound than tube amps do).

FWIW dept.: triode tubes are the most linear amplification devices known. So you might wonder what it is that tube amps tend to have more distortion. The answer is that tube amps tend to run less feedback as they have less overall gain, being a far simpler design. If you were able to have enough gain and therefore be able to run enough feedback the tube amp would sound just like a solid state amp.

Feedback is playing an enormous role!! One thing that limits feedback in conventional solid state amps and all tube amps is something called ’phase margin’ where if too much feedback is applied, at some frequency due to phase shift in the circuit the feedback is positive rather than negative. If this frequency is exceeded (for example due to harmonics caused by distortion) the phase margin is exceeded and so the amp goes into oscillation.

Another problem faced by all tube amps and most solid state amps is that of having enough gain and bandwidth to support the feedback. If it does not, feedback decreases with frequency at what is effectively a turnover point, usually at a higher frequency. This causes distortion to rise with frequency which is a recipe for harshness and brightness.

In addition, feedback is usually applied to a non-linear point in the amplifier, possibly the cathode of the input tube or the base of a transistor paired with an input transistor. This means the feedback signal is distorted before it can do its job, and so will add distortion of its own. It is for this reason the feedback has got a bad rap in high end audio.

Class D does offer some ways around these issues. Because it is very easy to get a high gain/bandwidth product, feedback can be supported at all audio frequencies, preventing brightness and harshness. If the amp is of the ’self-oscillating’ variety, you can add so much feedback that the amp goes into oscillation as soon as its turned on. The oscillation is then used as the switching frequency. By this method you can run quite a lot more feedback without it causing so many problems per conventional designs.

As a result you can have a class D amp that is as smooth as any tube amp, but with the greater neutrality (otherwise, without the brightness and harshness) of traditional solid state- best of both worlds.

Morning all,

When I first wrote the post I knew the word romantic wasnt the right choice but that was all that came to mind. The better word should have been soothing mello tone flavor, but in all my audio journey Ive never heard a tube amp even to this day except on youtube posts not the same. So all Ive read is from others with tube amps and their descriptions on tubes.

Why Im sticking to SS amps is my brother and son both play guitars so from the supply issues and cost of tubes is why Im staying with SS amp.

Thxs all very interesting replies especially the one about grabbing the tubes and feeling oh so romantic. 🤣

@aseaman007 

aren't you glad you asked the original question?  🤣

asked for a drink of water and we turned on the fire hose

regarding any advice for amplifiers, it is important to note your speakers and the size/nature of your listening room...

🙄

@pindac did not say a thing other than Tube DAC and Tube Phone Pre. 

SS is fine just fine. 

@hilde45 you do you. I do me and have both topologies in my system.

Its about music and music is sound. Or for some they may listen to white noise.  

Sadly, the warmpth of the tube amp is caused by the 2nd order harmonic distortion the tube amps tend to produce. You will notice that often, tube amp's power rating re rated at 1% to 10% harmonic distortion. It gives a richer, more "warm" sound that people like. Buy the gear that makes you happy!  All of us hear differently; our ears are shaped differently. Beautifully made guitars have a richer sound because the string's harmonics are excited by the player's activity and make it through to the soundboard of the instrument and into the air. They sound "fuller" and "richer" because of it.  Enjoy the music and forget about a bunch of numbers.

In the field of electronics and sound production, HiFi has a requirement to produce and electronics that is purifying the sound being produced.

All other electronics produced for sound production are usually designed to distort sound in some shape or form, or control sound that is to be recorded.

In the world of listening to music where electronics are involved, it is nearly all listening to the Gear and the Sound that is a result of the Gear.

Meet an Acoustic Guitarist Performing in an Open Place with only the guitar, is as natural a sound as one can hope for, meet the same Acoustic Guitar and a Microphone and Amp is involved, not so Natural a Sound, meet the same Acoustic Guitar Plugged into an Amp and sound produced via a speaker, not natural.

Meet an Electric Guitar plugged into a selection of foot peddle sound control boxes and Amp, listened to through Speakers, definitely listening to the Sound produced by the Gear, as a result of the Guitarists capabilities.

Put any of the above into a recording studio, and through a mixing consul.

Well the gist is outlined.        

Tube or SS?  Who cares listen to the music not the gear.

Says you.

I like to listen to the gear sometimes. I like to focus on the sound not the music. 

If music was the only point, as you suggest, no one would be filling this forum about how things sound. But they do. 

"Audiophile" is a lover of sound. 

I didn't have any interest in tube based amps, until I purchased an efficient pair of speakers. After researching various amps, I went with an 845 18W SET 'A' IA, and have throughly enjoyed listening to the music it conveys. I also replaced my SS DAC, with a tube based DAC. My knowledge of tube families and how they sound is shallow, I have swapped tubes in my DAC. 

Thank you all I think under these economic stresses & supply issues I will stick with SS amps. I am looking at a Parasound classic 2250 v2 vs Emotiva DR 2 anybody ever own either ? 

Thx you again. 

Keep rocking today alittle Joe Cocker & Leon Russell

All depends on your taste and speakers.