Amen to everything you wrote Doc...you are preaching to the converted...lol

All my tube knowledge basics (and a lot of what I know about electronics) I learnt back in the early '70's. To get out of the Melbourne winter cold I joined the schools ham radio club. It is amazing what sinks in to a young teenage mind when you overhear doctorate professionals giving an in depth Amateur radio training course on the subject at a time when tube technology was still regarded as 'current' and the 2N3055 and the NE741 were the new kids on the block...

As for SMD.... try playing with that stuff on 10GHz or 15GHz where true 'White man magic' starts to happen and everything below 1GHz seems to behave like DC by comparison ...

I have similar to you with my JVM210c. 100W 2x12 combo with bucket loads of gain on an all tube signal path and solid state switching and digital reverb. It is certainly more amp than my meagre guitar playing deserves...