2x6 I have a question for you regarding tubes that maybe you can answer, depending on your listening tastes. You say that it makes things sound more "musical" which I can then imagine might be very pleasant for some musical genres. But what does it do on genres like industrial, metal, idm, or drum and bass which some people would argue are not inherently "musical" to begin with?
I think the general opinion here of the folks who either discount, recommend against, or warn against tube amps is very simple. The amp is affecting the recorded sound. What you hear is not the sound that was recorded to the disk. If it were, the tube amp wouldn't be necessary to reproduce it. That's all anyone here is saying when they say they are not as accurate as a (well designed and not overdriven) SS amp. They do impart a clearly audible quality to the music that is not otherwise present in the recorded media. Now, I don't think anyone here is saying they sound bad, or not to give them a try if you are so inclined. I have personally never listened to one, and would like to if I had the chance because I'm sure it probably sounds good on a large range of music. I'm also fairly confident that a large number of people in this world would be extremely happy with a tube amp and it would not leave them wanting, like yourself for example. In some sense though, the amp is acting as a DSP that you can't turn off.
But to be honest, some bands aren't supposed to sound warm or even musical for that matter. I couldn't imagine listening to Skinny Puppy, Ministry, KMFDM, Revco, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Boards of Canada, or even NIN through something that made them sound more warm or musical.
So, my point is, I don't think tubes are for everyone. When people sing the praises of tube amps as the end-all-be-all of music reproduction, I am skeptical. The qualities people attribute to them are not things I always want to have done to my music, that I can't turn off like a DSP if I so choose.
