Gotta weigh in here. Many of you have read or heard my story so be warned, the record is broken and may cause some irritation.
I have owned CLR's and a GT1000 and a Bryston SS Power amp (which is an odd ball in these parts).
I currently use a mesa 20/20 tube power amp with a 4X12 and like you prefer the real cab over FRFR when playing for myself.
I would keep in mind that it is all a frame of reference. As far as I'm concerned tube goodness has not been fully replaced by SS. That's all I'm gonna say on that as I may have torched this thread by saying that much.
Since you still like the real cab experience, I can relate what I've experienced. It will probably make sense to you.
I sold all of my tube amps and went SS. I didn't get rid of my 4X12 cause I loved it too much. I bought 2 CLR's and a GT1000 to use with the 4X12. I began the A/B process over a couple of months and came to the conclusion that the CLR's weren't for me. (I want no part of any CLR discussions and will not respond to any replies regarding)
I carried on with the GT1000, a good amp I think. When I played it exclusively for weeks, I got to a point where I thought I had reached perfect tone.
I tried a Bryston 3BNRB (out of production) which I had bought for another purpose. I actually liked it better than the GT1000 because it colored the sound in a warm tube like way. All of a sudden the GT1000 sounded sterile in contrast. Hmmm...
I sold The GT1000.
Then I meet up with an brilliant electrical and mechanical engineer who wants to check out my rig and I'm excited! I'm finally gonna show off this accomplishment to someone who will really get it!! He's a DSP engineer and everything..No way right??!!
He listens to it and says, "not bad. Now check out my homemade EL84 20 watt and and this vintage Supro I have here."
I am immediately blown away and diminished at how 2 dimensional my sound was compared to his amps. Mine didn't sound bad, but was a departure from the real thing. My 4X12 was used for everything. He explained why tube amps have a more dynamic relationship with speakers than does a SS tube amp.(too much to explain here and I don't remember a lot of it it sadly) Steve Fryette actually explains it on a youtube video showcasing the LXII. You might want to wait for that product.
I ended up buying the mesa 20/20 tube power amp. I wanted something with less output that I could drive harder than a bigger head. It works. I don't play bedroom quiet though I do play in a bedroom/living room. I also bought a Bogner Shiva 20th anniversary to have a tube amp when I'm in the mood and as a frame of reference. FYI, the power amp does not color the tone so much that everything sounds mesa! Something to note.....The power amp section of the Shiva compared to the mesa power amp reminds me that not all power amps are created equal. Again, another frame of reference that I happened upon by getting hands on the gear. It may be difficult to nail your tones exactly between rigs. I never could. :ambivalence:
All I can say for certain is that I keep coming back to tubes when the frame of reference is there.. I'm not anti SS or FRFR either, but you mentioned wanting to match tones with a real tube rig
side by side. I do not believe SS will get you there from what I've experienced. I'm only speaking to this particular scenario!
This caught my eye on tapatalk and I couldn't resist. Good Luck.