Another big question about each of these is how much character the tube actually adds.
For the Le Bass, for example, I think the tube presence on the clean channel seems very low. I kind of just don’t hear it. It’s there, warm and subtle, but doesn’t seem to have the presence and harmonics I was expecting. The dirty channel seems to have a lot more presence to me. It’s possible this is also a youtube vs. reality thing and it would be different on the board.
The Glowplug is all about presence and seems a neat little device, but it’s certainly not a full preamp with EQ, etc. In some ways that’s a good thing. The question with it is if it adds the tone you want.
The EBS has a ton of presence but when looking at it you need to separate how much the tube is adding, versus the colossal mid scoop just sounding super scooped. It still sounds very tubey to me.
And so on.
Also, in the end you need to weigh these against the solid state options that add a lot of tonal character and there are many amazing choices. For this kind of sound there’s probably hundreds of pedals and preamps. Lots of excellent tube-like tonal qualities to things like the Darkglass VMT/VMT Ultra, SansAmp VT Bass DI, EBS Microbass, etc.
It’s most likely I will stick with solid state but the tube thing fascinates me.