What's the greatest bargain in SET these days?

Mapman,
Warmer, smoother, tone of instruments accurate, well saturated color, and so forth...

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?