Switched From Tubes To SS???Glad You Did???

When I look at my compliment of fairly expensive tubes and consider the expense of having to replace them someday - hopefully well into the future - I truly envy those who prefer SS (Mezmo, are you nuts: "I want to be a tube person”). Maybe I just haven’t heard the right system but when I listen to SS, I find that I’m more impressed by the stereo; and with tubes, I’m more impressed with the music. I hope that I find something to change that before re-tubing.

"There is both good and less-than-good tube gear out there...”
"It is really just a function of which sonic trade-offs you can live with..."

Robsker - Those are very valid points, but I think it’s equally valid to state that the higher the quality of tube gear and tubes that we’re talking about, the more those trade-offs diminish.

"I enjoy tube swapping as a user friendly tone change vehicle...”

Wolf - Tubes can certainly serve that purpose, but higher quality tubes, properly matched with the circuit and each other, can have a much more profound impact than merely altering tones. IMO, that’s where the real opportunity is to achieve the speed, dynamics and all those other goodies associated with solid state.

Hi Wolf,
I think what you said was fine, and I agree that different tube sets will change the sound of your amplifier. I was just trying to expand on your post by adding that the right tube swap can actually result in a remarkable, across the board, improvement in your amp’s performance.