The ups and downs of tube vs. SS...

Tube are nice , "But" unreliable ,  The bias bad tubes go wrong all the time . I can not make year without a problem my amp is in the shop know. Got a year out of it 1st week there was problem I fix it my self  after a year I had to send it out . They do sound nice . There are some very good SS out there  "BIG BUCKS" Best bet intergrated amp with tube preamp easy to replace and the tubes are 10 bucks

@passet02 With all due respect that sounds like an issue with your amp itself not tubes. In my opinion a well built, point to point wired tube amp is harder to break and easier to fix and more prone to long term reliability. Sure there is a certainly level of interaction with your gear you don't get with SS but to me that's the fun part.

My favorite is a Fisher 500C unrestored.

That won't last long if the filter capacitors don't get replaced. As they fail, they tend to take the power transformer with them. It can get pretty ugly as the transformer might leak nastiness when it gets really hot.

So get the caps replaced- and the amp will sound even better.

@atmasphere I was wondering about a tubed buffer stage between source and amp? 
If one was to go with either SS, or tubes, will it make a huge difference? Or, is it just a waste of money?
jtweed

I'm wondering this too. I've had tube preamplifiers but never just a buffer. Does having no gain give the sound of tubes?