Integrated tube amp under $1000 / $2000

+3 on Quicksilver with Cornwalls.  

A member on the Klipsch forum noted Mike Sanders of QS personally owns and uses Cornwalls with his Quicksilver amps.   Some good 2nd hand deals come up on QS monos, but the sweet EL84 20W Integrated is the real bargain if you don't already own a good tube preamp.  

Klipsch Forum Post:  https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/185957-preamp-recommendations-for-my-quicksilver-corn...

Luis,
Consider total cost and your time too IF you are super particular about who you want it to sound, or if you have upgrade-itis. :)  The unexpected and eventual added tube rolling costs many encounter for some of the base model amps that come with generic low grade $ entry level tubes is something to really consider.  A few good designers actually take the extra step to design and/or include decent sounding tubes and coupling caps with their amps new.  That added R&D and years of designer listening time and fine tuning time is totally worth the extra few hundred bucks one might pay for the (better version amp) and a huge time saver, particularly if you put a value on your time. 

Luis,
Which 6SN7s are you rolling through your MA-1s?

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For my rig I settled on Sylvania Black plate 6SN7s for my preamp a while back, but once those let go down the road in a few years, I’ll be revisiting them again, maybe PSVANE MKIIs, or Shuguang,... others as I can’t see more NOS. Seems your buddy could pick up some nice 2nd hand amps or an integrated if its his the first leap into tubes and decide later to step up again, or not. We just put a set of KT88 PSVANEs and 12AX7 PSVANE in a friends used and  now fully upgraded Jolida JD801BRC integrated amp, and surprisingly it's very competitive after all the expensive upgrades were made. 

@luisma31 09-20-2019 8:08pm

...Recently a friend asked me which tube amp he could get used for $1000, I replied that maybe for $2000 he could get something decent but honestly I have no idea what to answer...

Luis,
How's the recommendation coming along for your friend, did you decide?  Seems like there were several great recommendations here. I have a friend looking to do the same, but not sure what to recommend as I've run mostly separates and heard only a few integratess like the QS and my former highly upgrade Cary SLI-80.  Some of the other recommendations here sound like fun too.     

A member and colleague here was supposed to list his DH Inspire 6L6 Triode tube amp and the matching LP27 tube preamp as a set/pair, and he also has a Decware Tori he mentioned planning to list on Agon.  Have not seen it yet, will keep an eye out.