Tube vs. Solid State Amplifiers

Tubes are nothing but power bulbs. Archaic, noisy, additive in distortion artifacts. 
Power bulbs hold no mysterious, intangible aura for me. They are plagued by problems. Well executed solid state designs have so many advantages that are too numerous to list. AND SS amplifiers mop the floor with power bulbs in every audible specification and sound quality.

Its actually hilarious how much $$$$ folks pay for power bulb amps! Give me a break, already!!

I still have my fathers power bulb amp collection. All restored and cleaned, back to better-than-new. 1950-1962 designs. Meh.

Sold my Conrad Johnson’s and Carvers. No thanks. Power bulbs just don’t get you there.

They get me there. By a country mile. 

Tubes and ss amps both have their pluses and minuses. IME, tube amps tend to give one a better ’gestalt’ of the music, while ss amps tend to be a little more controlled and in some ways ’predictable’ as to their presentation. Where i do think ss amps may be a little better, is in their reliability, mainly due to the tube aging cycle. However, I personally prefer a great tube amp for all it can do SQ wise over most ss amps. The best is to own both designs...that way there is no wrong. Just different flavors, IMO.

My tube amps sound better to me than my SS amps. The vast majority of the best systems I’ve heard were driven by tubes. Tubes bring me closer to the performance. I hear more. The sound stage sucks me in. I tended to stick with my SS amps for a year or two before moving on because I was looking for more, and it seemed I was always playing them louder to get a sensation. I stuck with the tubes for 32 years, and don’t plan to change, and can play them at any volume and get that thrill. If you don’t listen past just the tonal balance, you might not notice the benefits of tubes. There are pros and cons with each....tubes tend be expensive, inefficient, and require more attention, but their reward is well worth it to me.  

Look at the other 59 threads.HELLO!!