SS vs Tube Preamps

Robert Harley stated two things about preamplification in the latest edition of his book (The Complete Guide to High End Audio) that caught my attention. Don't quote me on this as I am working on memory, but first, was that he perferred to keep the tubes as close to the source as possible and second, that in theory, if done correctly, tube and SS preamps should sound the same.

I don't know if that would apply in practice, but my experience with tube and solid state preamplication combined with SS amplification is that in my system they are very close with the tube pre being a tad smoother on the top with better soundstage depth and the SS having greater bass control and extension. I am sure with tube rolling, the results will vary quite profoundly. Can't wait to try.

My experience matched Nsgarch's. I would only add that a possibility at the power end of things might be a hybrid. There are a few, including AVA (which I use). Depending on the rest of your system the right hybrid may provide the best of what tubes and SS can both offer to drive a speaker.

I'm of the school of thought that tubes sound the best when used at the source, or as close to the source as possible.

I've tried tubes down stream in the chain, preamps etc, and IMHO thought they sounded far superior at the source.

1st, it is definitely not true that tubes "always" hiss or are noisy in other ways. Completely untrue. It IS true that it is easier/cheaper to make a quiet SS preamp than a tubes one. However, my new Supratek unit is absolutely dead silent and so are many other good ones. Battery-powered tubed units from Dodd & Welborne may be the quietest linestages, period (I'm not sure, but maybe).

2nd, tubes used "at the source" are *usually* nothing but an buffer stage. IOW, the tubes are doing but impedance-matching and are, in my view at least, theoretically redundant. And, other than a slight "softening", sonic effects seem to be rather restrained.

3rd, why must the myths of "bad" tube bass persist? It's always a matter of the speaker interface. Tubes, push-pull or single-ended, with the right speakers (and this doesn't mean just highly-sensitive speakers) can produce the best bass you'll ever hear. Nothing at all inherent to the topology that prevents that. The highest damping factor simply isn't always best - over-damping that truncates decay is not a good thing unless your definition of good is the hardest bass, not the most musically truthful bass. I've heard these differences myself on many amp/speaker combos.

Wow, I'm sounding like a tube N*zi, which I'm not - I just hate the perpetuation of these myths.

As for solid-state and tubed preamps "theoretically" sounding the same, that's a non-statement if I've ever heard one.

Paulfolbrect

My preamp is made specifically for my amps. With the stock tube, the bass output (especially the lowest registers) is less than it was with either of my two SS peramps. Assuming the manufacturer did his homework, why less bass? Could it be the type of tubes (JJ Tesla 12AU7)? I would love to experiment with fuller sounding tubes if there is such a thing.