This past Wednesday I wrote about electric guitarists and their never-ending love affair with tube amplifiers. The technology dates back to the first decade of the 20th century, and tubes were integral to the development of radio, television, home/professional audio, radar, telephone networks, medical test instruments, and early computers! The transistor was invented in the late 1940s, but widespread use was only reached in the mid-1960s. Transistors nearly obliterated the tube home audio market in the '70s, but audiophiles and guitar players never gave up on tubes. Tube gear sounds different, it's richer, warmer, more full-bodied than transistor models. Those amps are, for the same output power smaller, lighter, cooler running, and cheaper than tube amps. Even so, the popularity of tube amps remains strong.
There's also a more affordable option that still packs in an audiophile-grade amplifier.
Mmmm, I love me that tube tone. Just wraps me up in a warm blanket of sound.
Granted, industry pricing has become... unquestionably insane at this point, but that tube tone is just so appealing for so many different audio applications.
Luckily, there is a rather sizable DIY community out there making tube amps that don't run the price of a used car.
Cause solid state sounds like shit... that's why.