SS Preamp with Tube Amp?

"Truly good sounding solid-state preamps....bla bla "

I thought the whole idea was "strait wire with gain" ?
Shouldn't a "really good" preamp shoot for nutrality and thus have no "sound"?

I share the same opinion as 6550c in that a preamp should be as neutral as possible. This is why I prefer using passive preamps. While I have had some nice active preamps in my system, and have sat and listened to many others, I always seem to gravitate back towards a passive design.

Raquel raises an interesting point about the problems associated with both types of pre-amps and power amps when frequent electrical storms, i.e., outages as well as possible strikes by lightning, occur in your location. Is that reason enough to choose tubes vs SS? Is it true that tubes come up to an optimal operating status quicker than SS devices after power is turned off and then back on? With more power problems, especially in summer peak demand periods, as happens with increasing frequency in the D.C. suburbs here in the Mid-Atlantic region, should this consideration be given more weight in choosing tubes vs SS? I do not have hours to wait before I can listen to an optimal sound after a long day at work.