Anyone permanently convert from tubes to SS?


I often hear about those that "discover" tubes and never look back, but has anyone here gone from being a "tube guy" to finding a SS amp that satisfied you equally or more? I don't intend on starting another tube vs. SS debate, I'd just like to see how many have left tubes behind. If you are a convert, which SS amp convinced you to leave tubes?
128x128jtnicolosi
"If it has no moving parts it is a solid state device. A tube amp moves electrons though a vacuum"

....I think I will move my electrons thru air to the nearest bar there they will became static and unmovable for receipt of a vodka-tonic with flashy positrons on the side, dragged by the dranken bartender with very sold and state credentials.
Not sure about "no tubes needed", but I would say with B&W SS is needed. Some speakers B&W, Thiel, Vandersteen seems to need what SS can do and don't thrive with tubes because of their need for high current and drive into the low frequencies. The speakers you own has a lot to do with whether you get better perfomance for tubes of SS.
Here's one for you to ponder - Gary Pimm, a very well respected EE & audio designer (http://www.pacifier.com/~gpimm/), has a solid state version of his Tabor tube amp which he prefers. The tube Tabor is a very highly considered power amp so the SS version must be startling. His design & comments are found here http://www.pacifier.com/~gpimm/solid_state.htm

A quote: "This is a very nice sounding amplifier. Totally quiet on my 95dB speakers. Sounds very much like the tube version of the Tabor but cleaner. No hint of "solid state sound".

I suspect the cleaner sound is the lack of microphonics of the 6AU6 input tubes and the directly heated output Pentode."
"Solid-state electronic components, devices, and systems are based entirely on the semiconductor, such as transistors, chips and bubble memory. In solid-state components, there is no mechanical action, or no moving parts, although a considerable amount of electromagnetic action takes place within. The expression was especially prevalent in the late 1950s and early 1960s, during the transition from vacuum tube technology to the semiconductor diode and transistor. More recently, the integrated circuit (IC), the light-emitting diode (LED), and the liquid-crystal display (LCD) have evolved as further examples of solid-state devices.

In a solid-state component, the current is confined to solid elements and compounds engineered specifically to switch and amplify it. Current flows in two forms: as negatively charged electrons, and as positively charged electron deficiencies called holes. In some semiconductors, the current consists mostly of electrons; in other semiconductors, it consists mostly of holes. Both the electron and the hole are called charge carriers. An example of a non-solid-state component is a cathode-ray tube (CRT). In this device, electrons flow freely through a vacuum from an electron gun, through deflecting and focusing fields, and finally to a phosphorescent screen. For data storage, solid-state devices are much faster and more reliable than mechanical disks and tapes, but are more expensive. Although solid state costs continually drop, disks, tapes and optical disks also continue to improve their cost/performance ratio. The first solid-state device was the "cat's whisker" detector, first used in 1930s radio receivers. A whisker-like wire was moved around on a solid crystal in order to detect a radio signal"

From Wikipedia
>>If it has no moving parts it is a solid state device<<

I wasn't aware of it at the time but in retrospect, it appears years ago, I had a transistorized girlfriend.

I wonder where she didn't move to.