TUBE AMP LOVERS - What SS amp makes you smile???

Oddiofyl, you and a couple of others here have mentioned how much you like McCormack amps so I gotta add that, if you liked the stock amps, you really should hear the upgraded versions by Steve McCormack at SMc Audio. In the past five years, I have owned the latest model Clayton M300 Class A monos, Lamm M1.1 hybrid monos, Ncore NC1200 Class D monos, Cary's 500.1 monos, Herron's M1 monos and others but none of those sounded better than my McCormack DNA-2 LAE stereo amp that Steve upgraded to his Signature Edition.

IMO, tubed and SS amps are like apples and oranges, you can like either or both but they don't taste the same.

They aren't the same at all but each are good in their own right. Solid state is much more reliable and needs virtually zero maintenance. Tubes can be a pain but at the volume I listen to in my medium size room 40 watts is plenty. I like how my amps can take a number of different type output tubes, all of which are often available locally . In my modest system those amps blow away anyone who has heard them whether they are into audio or not. I like solid state too but I haven't had one that sounds better than any tube amp I've had.
These Quicksilvers are a little over two years old and have been rock solid.....

This is a pretty old amp, and of limited suitability for a lot of loudspeakers, but the little Bedini 25/25 was a favorite for use with the original Quad speakers for those who didn't want tubes. There was also a 10/10, both it and the 25/25 running in Pure Class A operation, if you care about that. The model numbers refer to the RMS watts/ch.

I have to remind myself that 'tube like' is a truncated expression that is missing the words 'but NOT tubes'.

You can't have your cake and eat it, it's either tube or it isn't tube...lol.

I just sold my Ampzilla 2000 monoblocks and Ambrosia preamp combo and regretted it the moment the deal was finalized.

That pairing gave me the most musical pleasure outside of listening to a good tube setup.

It's going to take a special amp to replace that pairing, probably a tubed integrated or perhaps a hybrid.

Another consideration for 'tube-like' that I could live with in the long haul is the CJ200 control amplifier which I owned for a while, or maybe something from Odyssey.

Whatever internal mind games we play to trick ourselves into believing that some piece of solid state gear can do what a tube amp does, is basically folly.

Tube-like but not tubes.
Analog-like but not analog.

If you can live with the compromise, fine.

I still think although clearly SS amps can sound fabulous…tubey or not…tubes allow an easy path to amp tone manipulation that can simply be more fun than otherwise…otherwise being the fact that most tone freaks are unlikely to try dropping various tone bending replacement parts in a SS amp. It might be true that Western Electric vintage cable helps SS amps, but you can also simply put tubes around your SS amp (get 'em to glow somehow if you can…LEDs maybe?) and you might "feel" more tubey. A tube hat also can help. Earrings? One more thing about tubes…as a nearly 5 decade pro guitar player, I've tried various SS amps and although I use a Class D amp for bass (gigantic power in a little head…and everybody needs a little head), I've never been able to cop the vibe of a great tube amp with any modern "modeling" or whatever SS amp…I currently prefer a 15 watt push pull 6V6 and a class A single ended EL84 17 watter. Grease with glimmer...or something.