Tube wins hands down. Solid state can be good too, as can modellers etc but there is nothing like playing through a cranked tube amp. My tube rig has a Mesa Boogie Triaxis and a Mesa Simul-class 2:90 power amp through a Marshall 4x12 1960 cab - it is insanely powerful - too much so for playing anywhere but a big gig or isolation box in studio. At home I swap out th ecab and run this bad boy through a Palmer PDI-03 speaker simulator so the cops won't come calling - excellent tone. My Rocktron Prophesy preamp also has a tube in it which cooks the tone - adds the missing ingredient to the digital sound. To really 'feel' tube sound though, you have to play loud as hell through a good tube amp. Beats the hell out of solid state IMO.