Rogue 100 dark

For some reason and I may be wrong but I don't think the KT tubes are the way I want to go.

Bat is certainly one of my choices. I bought a pair of Von Schweikert VR4 gen 2 from an audio reviewer and she was using a Bat 75se with them.In addition if I do buy a bat amp I know there are a lot of good preamp choices.

too bad I just sold 8 golden dragon kt88 with broken alignment pins but tubes were fine. the Golden dragon would be a step in the correct way.

But you may just want to look a More tubby sounding amps, BAT maybe?

I say go class A and screw the tubes...use a tubed phono stage and or a dac with tubes to give some tube coloration.....this is what I've done, Sugden Pure class A integrated combined with a Tavish design classic tube phono stage and the Border Patrol r2r dac....to me sounds very tuby & groovy man..

Over the last few decades tube amps have been becoming more accurate… more like solid state and solid state has been becoming more natural… both converging on more accurate and realistic. So, in general few amps of today have slap you in the face tuby sound. Today’s tube sound is manifested in musicality and very realistic mid-range bloom… but does not go on to rolled off top and exaggerated midrange and ubiquitous bass.

I am sure there are lots of vintage gear that will give you the sound you want. This is the place to find folks that can make specific recommendations.

Yep that’s the Rogue tube amp sound. The midrange is a bit dry, certainly more than you’d expect from tubes. Sometimes they can sound a bit bright, as shipped with stock tubes (depending on what those are - it’s changed over years). This doesn’t change as you move up the line. On the plus side, their bass, dynamics, and impact are awesome! And these aspects further improve as you move up the line (all the way up to Apollos, even if you don’t need the extra power). You can definitely make these amps sound warmer & sweeter with Gold Lion KT88 outputs (this helps the midrange a whole lot) and NOS small tubes, but the reality is it’s never going to sound exactly like a classic "warm & wet" tube amp (e.g. vintage EL34 or 6L6GC tube amp sound).

Maybe I should post asking for a 75 wpc tube amp that will give me that tubey sound.

I would recommend a Prima Luna amp with EL-34s or maybe 6L6 tubes. That is where good tube magic happens. I have EL-34s in most of my tube amps.

Edit: The EL-34 only puts out about 22 watts each but I have not had issues even running hard to drive speakers. 

ultimately I am not satisfied with the Rogue. It is not the quietest. Rogue makes nice products. this amp just lacks the tubey sound. Maybe I should post asking for a 75 wpc tube amp that will give me that tubey sound.

I think up is Ultralinear and down is Triode. 
The ST100 is quiet for a tube amp. It is a pretty neutral amplifier and won’t be syrupy sweet. The midrange is natural and glare/grain free. I had great results with Gold Lion12AX7 and 12AU7. Overall the “base” ST100 is a great value. Especially once you change the stock JJs out for something better. 

this amp has great nos tubes including the mullards you speak of. I think my setup is fine. At least it is using the cary ss amp. Power is not the issue here. It just lacks the subtleties in the mids. i am using it with the switch in the down position. I have not tried it in the up position. I'll try.

Not familiar with the Dark version but enjoyed the ST100 for few years mostly in Triode mode. Toggle switch in the back. Give it a shot. 

I found the Rogue had a tubey sound just not that older classic tube sound. Rolling in better 12au7 and 12ax7 improved it a lot. Well at least it did on the stock ST100 and not Dark. Like the above poster mentioned look at your setup. The ST100 is a very nice amp with plenty of power.

Roll in Some mullard Input tubes and golden dragon Output tubes

With a SLP-98 and proper speaker placement in a good room, you should have everything you need. The benefits of tubes happens after you have everything else sorted out. I'd look at setup rather than gear.