Firearm12, you are completely wrong. There is absolutely no loss of resolution or prat or bass when using a tube amp. You have to make sure your speaker mates well with a tube amp. Most people have speakers which are not suited for tube amps. If you have horns or single drivers or high efficiency speakers, tube amps work very well.
No solid state amp can match a well designed tube amp when it comes to inner resolution.
I have owned top end SS amps from Levinson to JC1 Monoblocs. They can’t match a good tube amp on microdynamics, timing, inner resolution and immediacy.
+100
I’m really glad that a member with such vast experience has made the above points. It really bugs me when people write off tubes with sweeping generalizations that they’ve probably picked up from hifi forums.
As Prem has alluded, one doesn’t just pick up a tube amp; one matches a tube amp to a speaker. It’s the combination that delivers the goosebumps, not one over the other. Push pull, SET, 45, 2a3, 300B, 211, KT88, etc coupled with horns, single driver, Snell clones, etc, provide a smorgasbord of auditory options. Pick the right mix and you’ll have to pick your jaw up off the floor.
Unfortunately, a really good tube amp and high sensitivity speakers don’t come cheap. They won’t just break the bank, they’ll burn it to the ground. You’ll also have to experiment quite a bit to find the sound that‘s just right for you. For me, personally, the sound of a high quality 300B SET paired with 97 db speakers turns my knees to jelly. But I’m yet to hear a 211 based amp. Who knows, maybe I’ll like that better?
One thing is for sure, though; I’ll never go back to ss.