Preamps waste of money?

The thinness of some SS preamps is what it sounds like,thin.Good tube preamps come much closer to what I consistently hear live without question(there is color ,tone and developed fullness that`s unmistakable). But I certainly accept people will always hear differently and have other opinions,SS pre/amplifier for you,tubes for me.

No live instrument or voice I`ve ever heard sounds thin ,lean,dry and sterile(incomplete signal reproduction? who knows).If the fuller tonality and realistic body is a tube coloration I `ll take it as it`s more authentic natural and more convincing.Thin and sterile is`nt(sounds hifi and canned to me).That`s why there`re ample choices available to please very different ears.When someone hears a live instrument that sounds "thin" let me know.
Regards,

I have an Autoformer Tap X and an Lightspeed Attenuator. I would consider both the antithesis of "colored".

Tmsorosk, I would gave to disagree. When I installed the goldpoint attenuators, the sound became more full with increased harmonic detail and dynamics. It wasn't warm in the classical tube sense, but there was less tilting of the sound toward brightness. This is antithesis of what I hear with SS. I play classical guitar, and some of my classical guitar recordings tend to bright and hard, closer to steel string guitar rather than the creamy full sound of nylon strings. Most probably wouldn't notice this coloration unless you play acoustic guitar. Now these recordings actually sound like the real thing, the most neutral sound I've gotten from my system.

Grannyring, my bad. It's hard to interpret the intent of some posts. I enjoyed reading your Dude thread.

Devilboy, we have similar experience with these passives. I have to admit though in my system the stepped attenuator in the input of the amp was hands down better than the external passives.