Budget Tube Amp (newbie)

While I'm more in the Bowmore camp than Ardbeg, they're not world's apart at all. Very cool.

Don't overthink it. Look for something that you can sell for about what you pay. Don't consider anything glittery and new that will drop in value overnight. Regardless of what you hear on these forums, sound quality has not had the quantum jump that some would lead you to believe.
When I had Big advents, many years ago, my Marantz 8B had way more power than necessary. That's a 35 watt a side EL34 unit that's a collectible legend of relatively undistinguished sonics. I've had a couple of those and Model 5's. Great look but way overvalued.

Honestly, my Dynaco ST-35 was a fine match for those speakers. You can find a modestly priced 20wpc unit of some strip pretty easily used. Those that have suggested a mid-priced tube integrated are giving you good advice. Don't jump into the deep end of decreasing returns. A good integrated should give you the essence of what you're looking for.

Old iron IS better than new iron.

Not that it specs better or anything like that, you just can get old iron for a lot less than new iron and almost without exception transformers are well made. That's the most expensive part of an amp and manufacturers pretty much always made sure that if they were going to tool up a transformer, they did it right. Yes, good design is good design and transformer design has been optimized for years.
For what it's worth, Quad II sounds much better than Citation II.I have three Citation II here right now and that pentode input stage is for the birds. The Citation transformers though are sublime. Properly rebuilt they are a revelation. Bruce Moore for instance gutted many a Citation II with just that in mind.
Yes, tube rolling, just like cable rolling or fuse rolling is basically an exercise in the imaginary side of the hobby...

I greatly prefer a good single malt, hopefully an isle of Islay, to Welch's and ethanol.
At least I think I do.

I've never tried the latter.