Bob, Nice gift!
So have you taken the plunge into the tube madness yet? I don't play my guitar much anymore. My little practice amp has a tube driven pre amp stage, but solid state power amp stage.
But I do use a tube power amp for my home stereo. I just replaced some power tubes (and fuses) on it last week. Whenever something goes wrong, I use my receiver and I think, "Why don't I just go solid state?"
When I get it working again, I think, "Oh yeah, that's nice..."
It is expensive but, I must admit, it's just fun to play with devices with lethal voltages...

I was dreaming when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray...