I am, as well, but not because of the tubes themselves, anymore. The reason I haven't given up my tube amps is because the quality of the non-tube amps generally sucks. The reason seems to be that DSP-equipped amps with tube simulation are trying to address two problems instead of just one. One of the problems they are trying to address is the high cost of tube amps. The other is simulating a tube sound without tubes. I believe the first part of the equation is where things are going wrong.
A cheap amp and speaker with a DSP simulated tube sound being run through it will still sound like a cheap amp and speaker. There may be high end manufacturers making high quality guitar amps with emulation, but I'm unaware of them. They haven't been present in the music store on any occasion I've gone in to select a new amp.
The brands I'm aware of doing "tube emulation" in amps are brands I would never buy, at any cost. Behringer, Line 6 (and this is considered one of the good ones, honestly, and they do sound better than most, but are still cheaply constructed), Tech21 (again, decent, but not high end). All pretty shitty amps that happen to have a modeling DSP stuck in front.
I just did some googling, and it seems Roland is out front on making a reasonably high quality modeling combo amp (GA112). I'd be willing to bet that sounds as good as a real tube amp in the same price range, because the old JC120 combo was a great solid state combo amp...Roland knows how to make a high quality solid state amp, and they were on the front line of amp modeling. Of course, it also costs as much as a real mid-range tube amp, at ~$500.
I suspect there's a lot of cargo culting going on, as well. Guitarist knows their favorite recordings were made with tube amps, so they want a tube amp. So, any manufacturer wanting to make amps that are sought after, will make them tube amps, despite the many negatives to tube amps (requirement to bias them, requirement to periodically replace tubes, temperature sensitivity, etc.).
In short: We're probably buying into a superstitious belief that tube amps sound better than a modeling amp of similar quality. The only problem is we can't readily find many modeling amps of similar quality because they're targeted toward a price-conscious market and so they've cut corners everywhere and not just on the lack of tube preamp and amp circuits.
A cheap amp and speaker with a DSP simulated tube sound being run through it will still sound like a cheap amp and speaker. There may be high end manufacturers making high quality guitar amps with emulation, but I'm unaware of them. They haven't been present in the music store on any occasion I've gone in to select a new amp.
The brands I'm aware of doing "tube emulation" in amps are brands I would never buy, at any cost. Behringer, Line 6 (and this is considered one of the good ones, honestly, and they do sound better than most, but are still cheaply constructed), Tech21 (again, decent, but not high end). All pretty shitty amps that happen to have a modeling DSP stuck in front.
I just did some googling, and it seems Roland is out front on making a reasonably high quality modeling combo amp (GA112). I'd be willing to bet that sounds as good as a real tube amp in the same price range, because the old JC120 combo was a great solid state combo amp...Roland knows how to make a high quality solid state amp, and they were on the front line of amp modeling. Of course, it also costs as much as a real mid-range tube amp, at ~$500.
I suspect there's a lot of cargo culting going on, as well. Guitarist knows their favorite recordings were made with tube amps, so they want a tube amp. So, any manufacturer wanting to make amps that are sought after, will make them tube amps, despite the many negatives to tube amps (requirement to bias them, requirement to periodically replace tubes, temperature sensitivity, etc.).
In short: We're probably buying into a superstitious belief that tube amps sound better than a modeling amp of similar quality. The only problem is we can't readily find many modeling amps of similar quality because they're targeted toward a price-conscious market and so they've cut corners everywhere and not just on the lack of tube preamp and amp circuits.