Tube vs solid state (with all apologies)

First off, I gotta say that I follow my father's tradition of being totally manic in maintaining and gently using all mechanical/electronic devices. I'm also sure I've already reported on a tweeter failure with a Celestion SL600. But allow me to recount my sorry litany. 

I think I already posted this once, but I had to send my SOTA turntable to Berkeley/Oakland a couple of times -- when the bearing began to growl, and when wow climbed to the level of my sister's 1966 Mustang's under-dash eight track. SOTA, I must say, was extremely solicitous and helpful in setting the problems straight.

A tonearm bearing got a bit clicky and loose. Was it my MMT arm? Or the Black Widow?

Two portable phones -- one a flip phone the other a recent Samsung. Both phones were quickly dealt with by sympathetic retail outlets.

And oh yeah, off-topic... The neck of my beloved Dimbath violin came unglued when I relocated from bone-dry SoCal to humid Hawaii. I sent it back to L.A. and Benning Violins for repair. Esteemed luthier Hans Benning phoned and told me in his German accent, "Zees things happen."

Totally off topic but speaking of guitar amps, as a teenager I was jamming with a friend who left his Fender Champ in his car trunk on a hot day. When he set it up and played his guitar through it, I had never heard that amp sound so good.

I have a couple of champs… they typically range from anemic to raging… partly depending upon the room. The original speaker is pretty lame… Jupiter, WGS, and Fat Jimmy really upped the game for 8” guitar speakers recently (the last few years).
I run a 6L6 instead of a 6V6. Those two changes make for a more robust sounding amp… As a result I alter the tone stack and dropping resistor to traditional blackface and silverface fender spec. They really perk up with all of that… not small or boxy sounding.

@sokogear

you definitely are the exception. Everyone I hear from talks about replacing tubes after some cycle time depending on the amp, environment, usage, volume, etc.

Well as of 11/02/2021 that statement is no longer true.

I build amps as a hobby, and have for decades interacted on an almost daily basis with many similarly interested people. Not once have I heard of somebody wearing out a fresh set of tubes to the point where they needed replacement. A couple replaced tubes of vintage amps they resurrected, but somebody listening to new tube so much they wear out, never. I’m sure a couple of folks must have, but personally I know of any.

Quite a different experience that yours no? I’d hazard a guess that the "everyone" you speak of, are probably folks who don’t actually own tube amps?

Or maybe they are replacing them because of sound degradation and that doesn’t bother you.

No my hearing and my standards are pretty good. For each amp I have a number of tubes that I roll on a fairly regular basis. If any go "off" even by a fraction I’d know it.

Maybe, the people who told you about tubes going bad were blowing smoke?

Not sure since I never owned tubes and don’t plan to. SS can deliver just as good SQ, depending on the amp.

I’m just wondering how a person can make a statement that SS can deliver as good as tubes, when he has never owned a tube amp? The majority of people who have actually owned both, and spent time with both, prefer tubes.

Given that you have never owned tubes, perhaps you should consider your opinion and beliefs of tubes aren’t totally accurate?