The Carver series of TFM...transfere function modified...amps, monos 7t, and 9t, and various stereo models, are transistor amps specifically designed to sound like tube amps. Carver built the Silver Seven awsome tube amp, then copied its transfere function into several subsequent transistor models, to prove that two amps can be made to sound alike if their transfere functions can be matched. He had this theory that the transfere fuction of an amp is what gives it its particular sound. Anyway, I believe that there is a March 1993 issue of Stereo Review or Audio magazine where you can read about this. According to what I have read, he did seem to prove his theory about transfere function and the sound of an amp. Also, I personally think the whole thing about tube sound is over rated: I have had lots of amps, both tube and transistor, and I personally prefere the transistor ones. I still keep my Marantz 8b on display in my room, and will probably never sell it. It was the frist 'high end' piece of equipment I ever saw when my father brought it home in 1963, so it really has (nolstalgic)...if I spelled that right...value to me. But you know how I get around the tube /vs/ transistor (delimma)...if I spelled that right also...I use a tube preamp, with a transistor amp. This way, I have the best of both worlds: I get that tight controlled fast bass that good transistor amps are known for, with all those sweet mids and highs, and supposidly great imaging, that tubes amps are know for. This might help psycologically also: I ultimately chose this route, because I read an article in Stereophile magazine that said this was the best way to go. But don't ask me which issue, however, because I chucked them all out years ago. So there you have it, a solution to your problem, and from, indirectly, an authoritative source. Oh, by the way, the being who wrote the article in Stereophile was an alien from a planet in the Andromedia Galaxy. It was later learned that he traveled to earth specifically to save mankind from ultimate cataclysmic war over this debate. His hearing range, it was also later learned, was far beyound any signal capable of being generated by primative earthling audio amps. As good as some 'audiophiles' in fact. lol.
