I prefer using tubes for phonostages, linestages and the main amplifier. I might consider using a solid state amp if I were in need of much more power (I generally do not like high-powered tube gear), but, I am less inclined to use a solid state preamp in front of a tube amp. Still, I have heard pretty good results when I did use solid state in front of a tube amp, and I don't subscribe to the notion that there is some kind of tube "magic" or "essence" that is completely lost in so doing. Although it is on long-term loan, I own, and have used with success, a Levinson No. 32 preamp that fed very low-powered tube amps (Audio Note Kageki).
While any combination of tube and solid state gear can be made to work, I have found that it is actually harder to use tube feeding solid state rather than the other way around. There can be an incompatibility with tube feeding solid state that cannot be accounted for by just the issue of high output impedance of the tube linestage. For some reason, even when the impedances are supposedly compatible and interconnect length is kept suitably short, this combination can sound overly warm, sluggish and too loose in the lower frequency range. This is not always the case, but, it does happen enough that one cannot assume compatibility just by looking at specifications.
