First Tube amp suggestions

If the Black Ice doesn’t work out, I highly recommend the Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum 3. I believe it’s among the best “first tube amps” out there. It’s integrated and has 4 inputs plus adjustable and killer phono stage. The headphone output sounds wonderful and thanks to the robust power supply it has many tube rolling options. There’s even a switch for Ultralinear or Triode mode. 100wpc if you can find one with the KT120s or roughly 90wpc with KT88s. Biasing is crazy easy and it looks cool. I often see it compared to the Black Ice and they’re usually neck and neck. Similar price too I believe. I’d suggest taking a look at least. Either way welcome to the tube club! Good luck. 

@tritube whether you go Black Ice Audio, or Rogue Audio, or Quicksilver Audio integrated [for example] or any of these USA manufacturers or distributors, at least you have 1) people who know how to repair the amps in this country, 2) shipping back to the factory is also a more viable option, 3) some of these MFGs will actually still talk to you on the phone - imagine that.

Something to be said about same-country customer service should something go sideways, and usually not. This is what I think most of us are sharing so you have a good tube amp experience. And, these three companies dont get a lot of failures or returns. Since they sell all over the world, they try to engineer out failures with specific parts selection too.

I second the rec for a pre-owned Cayin, specifically the A88T. They sound excellent, are bulletproof, and can run 6550s, KT88s, El34s and even KT120s. They are quieter than some tube amps costing many multiples more. Since the circuit is point-to-point and largely based on the Mac 275, any good tube amp tech should be able to figure out how to service it.  
 

The same candid salesman who turned me onto the Cayin brand (who didn’t sell Cayin at the time) once told me that Jolida (Black Ice) products don’t perform very well. Maybe the newer stuff is much better but his words were the Jolidas “are POS.” FWIW….

Anything made by Quicksilver Audio,

I have owned a lot of their amps, preamps, and they all sound great.

I am not affiliated with them, just a happy user of their equipment.

Amplifiers – Quicksilver Audio

When you just go out and buy an amp, what you have is a compromise constrained by your budget, compatibility, etc.  Those little SET amps have no juice and unless you're running K-horns, will have no head room or depth.  Pbfffttt...

It's a totally different experience when you build a kit amp, like one of the VTA amps.  You get enormous satisfaction from the build and you learn a great deal about operating and maintaining an amp.  You don't get an ounce of that buying a standard commercial product.

With a kit amp, you get to choose what components go into it. Maybe you want to spend a little more on your coupling caps, or any number of other little improvements.  You're much, much more involved in your gear and your system when you build from a kit.  And lest you think it's not as good as a pre-built commercial product, remember that it was designed by a professional audio engineer.  The VTA amps are extremely well thought of and rarely come up on the used market for a reason.