In my experience a tube front end (pre-amp) with ss back end (amp) is a wonderful combination. My only experience has been with CJ, I currently have a premiere 17 and am totally satisfied. I replaced a ss pre-amp with the CJ tubed pre-amp while maintaining my ss amp; the results were amazing. I then replaced my ss amp with CJ tubed amp and while the results were good; I felt the pre-amp by far made the biggest improvement. I would recommend that you try a tube pre-amp with the pass amp before replacing the amp.