solid state vs tubes--with a twist

I think the key here Mr. Tennis is that you are looking for the classic CJ tube sound of the 80's and 90's in a ss amp. I have never heard any ss amp that is remotely in this camp. I do however agree that some of the most memorable ss amps, all Class A bias by the way, have some of the attributes in good tube gear but not in the way I expect you are looking for based on your list, that rather rich texture and resonant presence that especially classic tube sound is and ss can never be because of the differences in the devices used. Good luck in your search and if you find it please post your impressions, I'm sure many reading this thread would be interested.

I never heard the Carver amps from the late 80's that supposedly sounded like tubes in a ss design, the Carver challenge whereby the transfer function of a tube design allegedly was implemented in a ss design. I always felt it was a marketing ploy by Bob Carver regardless of how talented an engineer he was. Does anyone remember this and did anyone that heard his amps from that time come to the conclusion that his ss designs ended up sounding like a tube design?

What publication or society do you review for?

Orpheus I remember the N.E.W. amps, those little boxes from the 90's. They indeed were impressive and inexpensive but for sure I never believed for a second I was listening to anything other than a really decent ss amp.

Carver may be nutty, but he isn't crazy.
His M400t, which I had for 2+ decades was nice. Clean with good dynamics it drove my MG-1 panels very well, right up to clipping.

The method of making the amp match was to hook the Carver amp and the 'reference' amp to the same speaker. But out of phase, I guess. When the speaker produces NO sound, they are the same.....The louder the speaker, the further apart the amps sound. Bob would adjust internal parts values and bias, until this condition was met.

This applies to that specific amp pairing with a particular speaker. Other speakers and reference amps will differ. Carver chose a well known and highly regarded tube amp as his target.

With the above conditions, I'd remove the word 'allegedly'.

Have you reviewed any of Nelson Pass' First Watt offerings? I think you would be pleasantly surprised of the sound of several of the First Watt amplifiers. Specifically, the First Watt F3 and M2 are soild-state designs that IMHO sound the closest to the classic tube sound. The First Watt amps don't quite have the classic tube sound because they are low distortion and do not have the high amount of second harmonic distortion that many tube designs possess. For the past 11 years I have owned horn loudspeakers and have owned/demoed many tube and solid-state amplifiers. The First Watt offerings are my favorite solid-state designs.