Inexpensive Tube Amps

As usual, I am late to the party but I will add my $0.02 worth: in general, I try to avoid cheap Chinese products.  Actually I avoid MOST products made in the PRC except for a few Hong Kong manufacturers.  This is not due to political issues (which I have in plenty) but from experience.  But YMMV...

IMO, the best Chinese made product I ever owned was the original Sophia Electric Baby amp - not the new MkII unit.  Sophia Electric is an American firm w/ Chinese partners.  This amp was quite good; 10W (more or less) and it sounded great with every monitor speaker I paired it with in my office.  There are still plenty of these amps available on the used market for about $300 or so.

Will62: I was on a similar search a few years ago for a tube amp  and checked out some of the same units You are considering.  I had some helpful communications with Garry Huang who owns Musical Paradise.  I believe he’s in Edmonton Canada.  I eventually brought his MP301; later bought some tube upgrades from him.  I have used  it with Omega 3i speakers for a few years without any problems.  A lot fun, and very good for acoustic/solo instruments.  The unit is very heavy, nicely finished, and quiet.  I think the quality control is very good.  A simple amp without any gimmicks.  

if they're made in China, I'd steer clear of them, cuz the transformers will probably give up in short order.  my friend bought one of those and listened to it for a little while, then sold it. his was a push-pull design and it sounded ok but somewhat on the bright side. 

I owned a Jolida 502P for years and only replaced it as I became interested in Dennis Had's little hand made amps. But the Joilida was amazing for less money than any comparable tube amp out there when I was shopping around, but was sorted (and had a parts "upgrade") after manufacturing by the Maryland Jolida techs…so maybe that makes a difference. I also currently own a rarely used but well made Chinese $50 "Bravo" tube headphone amp…it's cute and sounds great with the better-than-stock 12AU7 tube I put in there. They immediately sent me a free new power supply when the original failed…whoever "they" are...

I'm surely enjoying my Musical Paradise 301 mk3. 6.5 watts SEP sounds great on my quartets. Replace the stock signal tubes with RCA 6sj7's and it sounds very good-much better than the $400 price. I'm running Shuagang EL34's. My $$$ main rig sounds better overall I suppose, but the little MP has that tube dimensional ability that grabs a guy.