I'm not sure what you consider expensive (and you say in your follow-up post that you already put tubes into the set...), but 01A's are not all that pricey, compared to some of the output tubes sought by purists. They made millions of them, and they are not that hard to find. It looks like they can be had regularly on eBay for $8 to $12 a piece, sometimes even less. And you are unlikely to wear them out on your radio or blow them up unless you do something foolish with the power supply. Jeez, you're even in Fair Radio Sales' home town, you could drive over and get some checked out ones for $18 a piece, and save on shipping! That seems like a better deal to me than trying to kludge up something with transistors in a 1920's set that was never meant to be. You can buy a battery eliminator (ARBE III) or build one from a kit (
www.tubesandmore.com has one), and have a nice vintage piece to show off, rather than a Frankenstein that would not be as impressive.
--Bob