Is pure class A ss the equal to tubes?

The primary difference between most solid state (including Class A) and tubes is the distortion each puts out. Solid state tends to put out mainly 3rd order harmonic distortion while tubes put out mostly 2nd order and some 4th order harmonic distortion. 3rd order distortion does not sound good at all. 2nd and 4th order distortion puts a musical sonic signature on sound that most solid state (class A or otherwise) do not produce.

Thus, it is impossible to equate the sound of most solid state (Class A or not) with tubes. Tubes add distortion (which can be very musical). This may sound like a bad thing... but remember that the distortion that any of your components (or any of them put together) do not even come close to the distortion added by your loundspeakers.

A famous Hollywood personality once said, "The Real World may not look like technicolor, but it should." I personally think that Real World Music may not sound like tubes, but it absolutely should!

KF

Oh Tok2000, what a romantic thou art! :)

I might have to change the shade of my rose colored glasses, as I may not be reading this thread correctly, you know, with the yellow background and all.

Hey, I was into tubes for years (for about 10 years I wouldn't consider anything else) and still like them. They are most beguiling to the innocent. I just got tired of the microphonic problems, the constant tube rolling and tube replacement, and their relatively unreliable and inconsistant nature in general. And good tubes ain't exactly cheap anymore.

Now that some companies are producing better sounding solid state designs I see no reason to return to the problems and continual disappointments of tube amps. They almost always soften the bass, and the high frequencies, and although they can sound nice in the midrange, so can good solid state. My hybrid amps use one input tube per channel and that's all the euphony (2nd and 4th order distortion) I presently require, thank you very much. :)

I tried an Aleph 30 mated to a VTL pre (it's a good impedance match), but I ended up with a simple Rogue 88 amp (I would have gotten a VTL ST-85, but they aren't for sell that often).

Aleph: Clean, well-resolved imaging, but, I hate to admit it, a little "jangly" sounding. Didn't matter what wires I was using, it always sounded hot to me. Also, there isn't that 3-d soundstage.

Rogue: Warm, but not overly "euphonic." Good resolution (with a good $200 power cord), and life-like 3-d soundstage. The winner in my system.

All of this said, I think that it's totally worth it to buy two or three amps used, and try them out. One will probably definitely be The One.

However, as others of already pointed out, you have to go with what's important to you. Neither the Rogue nor the the Aleph is a thunder-bass type of amp. See, I don't listen for "bass extension;" rather, I want to hear, as authentic as possible, the sound of "a bass." That is, I want to hear the wood of an acoustic bass, or, if it's an electric, I want my amp to be realistic enough to reveal whether it's humbucking pick-ups or single coils. If it's a little recessed in the soundscape, that's okay for me.

I'm glad I tried the Aleph. I think everyone ought to ^_^

For me, all tubes just work better, and it really doesn't matter what genre of music I'm playing.

I reckon the thing to do is to enjoy the music, not so much the amp.