I had fun tube rolling my Jolida 100. There weren't that many brands, and they were fairly cheap, including the best, the 5751 Sylvania black plate. That is until other folks found they liked them too. Within months, the price grew by 10 times.
Knowing what I found out about tube variety, I will not buy amps, and preamps. The cost is just too high. I watched a $600 tube get blown by a ham fisted listener spinning the bias knob. I could have cried for the owner, who just got finished telling us how long it took him to get the pair of big bottles.