Eastern Electric/Manley

i used one for three weeks and as i said, they sound pretty good. they are however not in the same league as the manley stingray and are built at a 'nameplate'factory in china. the biggest industrial pirate in the world.

You may want to look at the Prima Luna offerings. They're quite popular and seem to be a superb value. The prologue two sounds like it might deliver what you want, as the KT88 tube compliment tends to have more bass and speed than the EL34 based Prologue one. Plus they automatically bias tubes, which might appeal to you if you're a set it and forget it type.

I have a modded Cayin TA-30 which is built on the same chassis as the Prima Lunas, and I absolutely love it. Doesn't have the grip on bass like a big SS amp, but the extraordinary amount of low level detail, space, and naturalness is well worth any minor losses in bass. The bass I do have is very natural sounding mind you, but my SS amp was able to shake the walls much more effectively. With the stock tubes it sounded a bit slow and a tad too "fat," but after rolling in some Svetlana EL34s the the amp's pace and timing became intoxicating and everything just opened up in a really good way. I'm very happy with it. The importer of the Cayin, Paul from Bizzy Bee, has a new company called Tube Audio Designs. He really is as helpful and friendly as everyone on the internet says he is, and if I were looking to buy something new I would probably get one of his new models.

thanks everyone. will have a look at the manley and prima lunas.