Yeah I didn't have a tube amp I liked that I was trying to match. I can see that would make the modern heads a lot less appealing!
Instead, I bought my secondhand genz-benz shuttle 6.0 almost nine years ago on talkbass for $525*, without having tried it; I figured that since they were pretty hot on talkbass at the time, I could always flip it for about what I paid if I didn't like it. I'd say I got my money's worth for sure.
It turned out I absolutely loved it, the tube input stage can be pushed into a mild overdrive that suits me well, the EQ is simple but well tuned, sounds great flat and there's hardly a bad setting on it. It is also the loudest amp I've ever owned, I've never run out of headroom on it. I even like the sound of the mid scoop button - that's a first for me!
When it eventually dies I'll have to figure out what next. Considering how much I like this one I'd probably first try out a Genzler, but there's a lot more options nowadays.
* yep, as I remembered...
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/f-s-genx-benz-shuttle-6-0.514207/#post-6991449