I agree, the EL84 that you are probably referring to sounds great. Many vintage Pilot, Heath, Fisher, Scott and more used this tube. Very sweet and warm sounding. From what I know, Decware mentioned above uses a Sovtek CV83-not the same. Decware is supposed to sound great. However, you won't get 8 watts out of a Decware. Most are 2 to 5 watts, a few of the models go up to 7.
Check out ebay under tube amplifiers to check out some neat old EL84 based pieces. My old pilot will keep up with most $1500 amps, that's why people will pay $300 or more for a mint vintage piece. Most of the vintage units used 2 EL84's per channel also which should get you 15 to 20 watts per channel.
7189 based amps will work just as well. They are almost the same as EL84's (not identical but interchangeable).
Check out ebay under tube amplifiers to check out some neat old EL84 based pieces. My old pilot will keep up with most $1500 amps, that's why people will pay $300 or more for a mint vintage piece. Most of the vintage units used 2 EL84's per channel also which should get you 15 to 20 watts per channel.
7189 based amps will work just as well. They are almost the same as EL84's (not identical but interchangeable).