Blindjim I have had 4 tube amps;vtl 225 monoblocks,manley ref 440/200 monoblocks,cary slam 100 mono's and the audiovalve's I currently have.
The vtl and manleys sounded very similiar and they were driving merlin 4b+'s and dunlavy sc3's;controlled bass,midrange that most tube lovers crave and extended highs,the manleys ran 6550c's and the vtl's ran kt88's.
The cary slam 100's are the ones I had the longest;running jjkt88's at 95watts triode;these amps were the best I have owed until now;these amps drove the dunlavy's and the sound was just fantastic and then I got the itch to see what electrostatics were all about and found the cary's to do a very good job but were being taxed and it was noticable;loss of bass control on the panel,the midrange fell apart and the overall sound was degraded;these amps were the first generation on the slam 100's and it was fixed at triode with no ultralinear switch as the newer models had.I traded them in on the audiovalve challangers and have never been happier.Sound is first rate from top to bottom,they seem to control the panels with ease.Build quality is excellant and I have not experienced any problems with these amps since I aquired them.
I have not tried tube rolling on them as I am rookie in this area but have made some inquiries on where to start and what to try.