Like Chuck, I cut my electronic teeth on Valves way back in the late 40's when electronics was my hobby, before taking it up as my lifelong love and profession. Your comment about solid state amplifiers simulating the 'Valve Sound' was actually incorporated in a Guitar Amplifier, manufactured in the late 60's by 'H & H'. This was a fully transistorised amp which was designed to try to convert Electric Guitarists to solid state amps, after considerable resistance to the 'clinically clean' sound of this type of amp. Guitarists preferred the sound of the Valve amps particularly when the output stages were driven into overload, rather than the 'Dirty' broken up sound of a solid state output going into distortion.
The H & H amp had a switch on the front panel labelled 'Valve Sound' which deliberately introduced mainly Third Harmonic distortion, irrespective of input level.
Result - the amp sold very well !
The old VOX valve amplifier, much used in the 60's by The Beatles, Shadows and many other groups of that era, was resurrected a few years ago and I believe the manufacturer initially had trouble keeping up with the demand! They were only low power devices - about 30Watts, so for big venues, they were 'Miked-Up' via the usual 'Giga-Watt' PA systems.

Ah! Memories, Memories . . . . .


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Willum