Soundstage vs background noise?

Tube gear is only as quiet as the tubes used. Lots of variability regarding noise and distortions possible there! It part of the unique charm of tube gear. SS has other noise and distortion issues issues to deal with. Choose your poison. Either can be really good or really bad. Hard to generalize, like most things. Noise is never a good thing though. It obscures other things that might be heard.

Just an addendum to Ralph's post. Not only may the tubes be shot, but if the tube gear is old, it may be time for a recap too. I am a card carrying tube-head. So yeah, tube gear requires a little more care and feeding, but it's kinda fun, gets me involves with the technology a little more and I think sounds nice. Just me.

Well designed tube amps with tubes running as they should have a very low noise floor, and spatial queues galore...also this post has one of my extremely rare uses of the word "galore."

OP -

tubes can be noisy. A tubed amp is only as good as the tubes installed. If a tube(s) becomes noisy, it is getting weak or running out of juice (no pun).

One of the major reasons that led me to move from SS toward tubes was an increased ability to present spatial, nuances and ambience information. The realism and natural sound characteristics were superior. It may be a question of what particular component and tubes are being used. Not every tube amp does this aspect as well as others.
Regards,