Hagerman "Blue Cornet"

Amandarae,
I agree with you. The Cornet is quite exceptional and I recommend it without hesitation. It was a bit unfair of me to mention a weakness that is minor for its price point and can be somewhat rectified (pun intended) via creative tube rolling.

Truth be told I don't have any technical knowledge and my K&K unit was actually built by Kevin with swappable tube or ss rectification. Following expected stereotypes, it sounds faster and cleaner with ss rectification, and more lush and forgiving with the tube.

Don't know the "Blue Cornet", but I have a Cornet Classic (as opposed to the Cornet2), and feel it's a good value, especially with a cap upgrade. Very open and musical, excellent surface noise killer if you're a thrift shop buyer. On the negative side the bass is a bit tubby.

Amandarae, just read your review.. maybe I'm reading this wrong but seems like you specifically pointed to bass being the weak area of the Cornet in comparison to your Trumpet?

My tubby bass comment was from direct comparison to my 3x more expensive K&K phono pre, which is not fair to the excellent value Cornet.

I run the Cornet with Vcaps and Sovtek 12ax7's. The Vcaps really bumped up the sound (and price!) into a far higher level. (neutral and faster.. less tubby?)