I've owned conrad johnson tube amps for 14 years...and so has my brother-in-law...other than retubing and replacing the on-off switch...no hassles. My formerly owned solid state amps from Hafler and Carver went to the shop more frequently (once each). I also currently own Bryston ... never has broken and has a 20 year warranty. So...are you sure SS amps are less hassle? This has NOT been my experience to date though I'm sure others disagree. Retubing is relatively epensive, but accounts for less than .2 % (.002) of our gross income every third year. We spend more on going to the movies than on new tubes. Lord knows I literally get more useage (time) out of the tubes than the theaters. The c-j s are easy to bias also. I understand Audio Research and VTL are similarly easy to live with. I've also heard good things about Quicksiver tube products and Sonic Frontiers regarding ease of use and lack of problems.
HELP: I need a solid state amp with a tube sound
I am very much into tube amplifiers, but it seems that they need alot more maintenance than SS amps do. Is there an amp out there that will get a good tube sound, but with low maintenance of an SS amp? I am working on my budget and I will probably spend about 2500 for it. I already have a tube pre-amp that I like, a Zen ZTPRE, and does a good job for my needs.