sse tube/solid state operation
 

Are you supposed to remove the rectifier tube when using solid state? I would rather have something in the socket for safety, but I can make a cover if I have to.

Most people just leave it in there. Because the drop out voltage of the tube is so much higher that the silicon, the tube is just sitting idle and burning watts via the heater. If you want a little more oomph when running solid state, you can pull the tube and free up some VAs in your power transformer (in which case you would want some kind of dummy tube in the socket).