If you need to add mass, have the pre made to accept monster brass footers, like the Edensound Bearpaw or the briefly produced "Fat Bastard" which I use. Otherwise get the commercial varieties around. The very Expensive Mapleshade products to the cheaper Chinese BBC brass cones and so on.
The only other pres that have that Octal sound which come to mind are the AE-3 from Cary which should come up at around your price point. The problem is they don't come around that often. The second thought is the lesser versions of the SLP-05 Cary. Their other 6SN7 pres like SLP 98s etc. They are prolly more than you want to spend.
The only other pres that have that Octal sound which come to mind are the AE-3 from Cary which should come up at around your price point. The problem is they don't come around that often. The second thought is the lesser versions of the SLP-05 Cary. Their other 6SN7 pres like SLP 98s etc. They are prolly more than you want to spend.