As for the Triad pair shown above, I have a couple of those along with about a dozen of the A-65J’s (15k:600/150 parafeed output). Talk about milky/smeared. if you want color, it’s there, but might not be the color you’re looking for.
I wonder what happens to these prices over time as the younger folks start dominating the market. Younger musicians and aspiring engineers lately ask me why I even bother with hardware, something I didn’t get asked much just a few years ago.
Milky/smeared is it exactly with many Triads. The actual famous 'tone' of the Pultec! I had a whole pile of HS-66's I got for $10 apiece in the late '90's, they were occasionally nice 'milk softeners' on harsh electric guitars in a mix, but that was about it. I was more than happy to let them go when the market went crazy building Pultec clones.
The vintage transformer market was never recording, it's always driven by foreign hifi people. It doesn't mean those trying to sell understand that, thus the wild claims and prices, most just afraid of selling too low in a market they don't actually know.