It's all good: Tangent, JMT and Eric343 are all expert craftspeople -- my portable META by Tangent was obsessively researched and sounds particularly amazing. But all three of these gents are aces, and a pleasure to deal with, so it's useless to compare. I like to let them experiment a bit, to give them a challenge of some kind, since it seems always to make the project more interesting for them and results in superlative work. I also love the fact that Eric's really young but thinks -- and builds -- on a seasoned professional's level. I love the home META he built for Radrd, who took care of it before selling it to me as if preserving a religious artifact. (Radrd is an exceptionally honorable seller, BYW, and packs his equipment before sending with painstaking care.) Eric's so smart and conscientious that even mentioning his youth seems uncomfortably ageist.
I'm not promising that any of these people are available currently. I'm only saying that each of them is excellent, so commission one of them if you can.
OTOH, Tigger builds some species of META mint that might sound better than a CMOY. I haven't heard it, so I can't really say how it sounds.
Also: The cheapest option might be to create a WTB Used Mint Tin Amp thread in the Gear for Sale Forum.
One other suggestion -- if you can, pick a mint tin that's comparatively rare and fun. The veteran builders might help you out on that one. JMT had a rather nice mint tin archive when last I checked (though that was a year ago). I particularly like the Altoids tin with vinyl 45s on the cover.
