Originally Posted by: Tele MasterAlso, when a Tube Amp is cranked up, the sound is magic to (most) people's ears. Just think of anything classic rock and its almost 99% of the time gonna be a tube amp. Solid state amps sound like dog s**t when cranked. Just go to the stereo in your car and turn it up all the way. Crappy sound.

To play devil's advocate once more, (although with not much conviction!): I honestly do believe that solid-state's are starting *almost* rival valve's, (although off the top of my head I can't back this up with any examples); but it's been an awfully long time coming and I think they've still got a long way to go.

I've considered buying a solid-state because of the reliability, (plus I've had so many problems with my valve amp it's just not funny any more). But I think at the end of the day, like you guys say, you really can't beat the tone of a well made valve amp - if it worked for Hendrix/Santana/'Stones/anyone else you'd care to mention here, then dammit, reliability isn't that big an issue.