Quote:
Bypass... as in when you are tired of the tube-caused distortion that provides the "warmer" sound...

I'd say that tube amps do have their place in high end audio - specifically in systems which are fundamentally likely to be over driven, such as guitar amps, or in systems where a flat clip is particularly bad news for the drivers. Tubes are far more musical in distortion than solid state amps. You can try to emulate this with soft knee compression but it's not the same.

Rob