Help with an Amp in the 1500 ballpark used

Roland with a TUBE Pre is VeRy NiCe !!!!
even when compared to an ALL Tube system.

if you like levinson buy an older 27 or 27.5, they will have good juice.but i would choose tubes.

I have a BC22 in one system. Nice amp. The BC22 is closer to the Bryton 3BST in power.

Haven't compared as many amps as some of the regulars who make this such an excellent site, but I have listened to the Levinson 27.5 extensively and I like it a lot. I think a Coda 11 is more immediate and sensitive in handling attack and decay. It also seems to be better at revealing subtle shifts in volume and tone (You'll know more easily when a pianist hits and holds down a key w/a little extra force or when a clarinet player decides to blow a bit harder to get more sustain than you might w/ the 27.5). I think both amps are astonishingly good in the right chain. There might be even better amps out there in this price range, if you find one let me know.

One very nice budget combo that I really liked was a Golden Tube SEP-2 pre driving a McCormack DNA-1 Deluxe amp via Synergistic Resolution Reference MKII interconnects. The stage was just huge! You can probably get both of these pieces for very close to your $1500 budget. Run them with some upgrade AC cords, which made this nice combo even better.