Well I did say it was in my experience!

I have heard a fair number of valve amps, but admittedly not a huge amount.

The ones I have heard, I'm sorry but I can hear the distortion. It's very nice for music that doesn't need to be LOUD, but for something like Limp Bizkit, Everclear, Nickelback etc (I veer towards alternative rock) they don't do it for me. They start to sound loud before they are. I always thought this is why people talk of 'valve watts' as something different

I may be hyper sensitive to the distortion though as I spend a lot of time in studios, where low distortion is a bigger concern than sounding 'nice'. (No I'm not trying to say I can hear better or anything jus that I'm not used to much distortion)

Sorry if I offended anyone...

If anyone is near me (Gravesend, Kent) they are more than welcome to take a listen to my system and see what they think of the combination.