high power tube amps vs ss

after trying out several transistor guitar amps, some with plenty of watts available, i finally came up with the money to try a Fender Twin (all tube) amp.
totally incredible difference- the woodiness of the guitar clearly revealed itself, not to mention glorious overtones and that incredible overdrive distortion (problem- the volume was 3/4 of "1" and any higher would have had the neighbors complaining). OTOH, after hearing a VTL Wotan amp VS Halcro VS Rowland VS M.Levinson, etc. i have always enjoyed the sound of music on really good SS amps. i did hear low power triodes on two occasions and the results were not as impressive as i had hoped. the quality of the amps were really super though.
it might have taken several hours with them to get a different view, but their advantages were subtle to my ears.

Creating is not the same as recreating.

"Creating is not the same as recreating.”

Whoa! That’s pretty deep... and I always thought solid state guys were a kinda shallow :-)

French_fries, have you tried a good playback mono ss amp with your guitar?

I recently switched from two SS amps (Pass XA30.5 and Parasound A23) to two tube amps (Prima Luna Dialogue 4 and Prima Luna Dialogue 7). FWIW, I am very happy with the new tube amps. To my ears, the tube amps are less neutral than the SS amps. But what they lack in neutrality they make up for in personality. They may not be particularly accurate, but they are fun to listen to. At the moment, I don't miss my SS amps.

Having said that, I agree with the folks who say that you must listen for yourself. You can't take our word for it.

Bryon