What's the greatest bargain in SET these days?

Ok, I did not explain that too well. Let me try again: in music, the timbre also known as tone color or tone quality is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the perception of timbre include spectrum and envelope.

In simple terms, timbre is what makes a particular musical sound different from another, even when they have the same pitch and loudness. For instance, it is the difference between a guitar and a piano playing the same note at the same loudness. Experienced musicians are able to distinguish between different instruments based on their varied timbres, even if those instruments are playing notes at the same pitch and loudness. (This with a little help from the Wikipedia).

The little Dynamo does all this and more in spades.

Mik,

That helps thanks.

Can you describe the specific timbre differences you hear with stock versus alternate rectifier tube?

Thanks.

DIY $75...120 in parts + 2..3hours of labor to assemble

Czar,

Not a bad idea. I've seen some SET amp kits advertised. Haven't tried anything like that since building electronic kits as a kid, but if I could do it back then I probably could now.

Did you have any particular kit/design in mind?

Mapman,

I'm not a professional reviewer, but as the great film director, William Wyler once said when asked, ”what he wanted,” from a particular actor after about 40 takes, he said, "I'll know it when I see it.” I think this is the correct response to your question, only change it to "you'll know the difference when you hear it for yourself.”

By the way, my unit was bought used and did not come with the stock rectifier tube. It arced over and the original owner replaced it with Kevin Deal recommended NOS Phillips ST bottle 5R4GYS. Nice tube but not recommended for this unit by Israel Blume. With this rectifier in the amp it sounded brighter, my wife did not like the tone of the bass, the sound was less warm, lean and thinner. Nor did she or I like the Gold Lion KT77s that the previous owner had installed paired with the Phillips rectifier and stock 6SL7s. I will revisit the GL KT77s with the Mullard rectifier as well as the Sylvania military 6SL7. Should be fun and interesting. First I'm going to test out the RFT Siemens and Black Treasures, then the SED Winged C at a later date.