Solid State Pre-amp for Tube amp education

[b brian]

So does it defeat the purpose of (or the sound quality of) a tube amp to run the source through a solid state pre-amp?
I am trying to learn about tube amps and searching for tube amps, but keep running across console pulls without a pre-amp.
Does the Tube amp generate the tube sound even when there is a solid state pre-amp between the amp and the source?

 

[for_p1]

So does it defeat the purpose of (or the sound quality of) a tube amp to run the source through a solid state pre-amp?
I am trying to learn about tube amps and searching for tube amps, but keep running across console pulls without a pre-amp.
Does the Tube amp generate the tube sound even when there is a solid state pre-amp between the amp and the source?

The larger is the signal the more influence piece of equipment has over sound. Good tube preamps are completely transparent, like good solid state preamps. I do not know what exactly you want from tubes, but power amplifier makes most the difference, which likely is due to the way it interracts with the speakers.

 

[prisoners]

I respectfully disagree. I think the smaller the signal is, the more susceptible it is to change, therefore the pre-amp is more critical than the power amp. Once the signal is amplified it's much harder to alter the sonic carachteristics so it's important to start with a sound that you like. I went through more than a dozen pre-amps at home before buying the one I liked and was amazed at how different they could sound from each other.