In ancient times, my man, most studio mics (except ribbons) had tubes, and all preamps had tubes, and the open reel recorder had tubes, in fact, virtually everything had tubes. And- the world did not come to an end in an orgy of "analog warmth". The inadequacies of early digital equipment has led us to a cult of the vacuum tube, believing that somehow, the wonderful sounds of vintage recordings, made with expensive hand made mics and expensive preamps will be duplicated by sticking a tube into a cheap piece of Asian gear. Well, it won't.
If you want to get good sound, use an expensive hand made mic and an expensive preamp in a great room, with the mic well placed. Whether there is a tube involved is *completely irrelevent*! If you plug a Neumann U87i into a Neve, it will probably sound good (no tubes). If you plug a Soundelux U99 into a Pendulum MDP-1, it will probably sound good (tubes).
The vacuum tube is probably the biggest red herring in current recording technology. There is simply good equipment and better equipment, and great equipment. Some of the worst stuff and the best stuff uses tubes, or doesn't. Concentrate on the usefulness of the equipment, and ignore the frigging tube.-Richie