FWIW, think of a tube amp with a passive line stage ahead of it. That would (optimally) be the same as a tube amp with solid state pre-amp, except for with the solid state pre-amp you would have gain. In a perfect world. The real magic of tubes is in the amp.
If I could only choose one combo it would be ss pre - tube amp. And that combo is a lot less problematic to set up. Impedence matching is not a real issue, and everything that goes with it.
But, what I don't understand, if you are already buying into the use of a tube amp, which most beginners want to avoid because using tube amps is a bit more demanding, both maintenance and speaker matching, why would you not want a tube pre-amp. It is a great addition tonally, allows much more tonal possibilities, and maintenance/matching is relatively simple.
I use tubes everywhere so I'm prejudiced. :-)
If I could only choose one combo it would be ss pre - tube amp. And that combo is a lot less problematic to set up. Impedence matching is not a real issue, and everything that goes with it.
But, what I don't understand, if you are already buying into the use of a tube amp, which most beginners want to avoid because using tube amps is a bit more demanding, both maintenance and speaker matching, why would you not want a tube pre-amp. It is a great addition tonally, allows much more tonal possibilities, and maintenance/matching is relatively simple.
I use tubes everywhere so I'm prejudiced. :-)