Have you rolled the tubes in the Rhea? I replaced V1-4 with Telefunken smooth plate 12AX7s and the 5922s with Siemens 6DJ8s. So much smoother and analog sounding. I had one of the Teles go on me a couple of weeks ago, so until I found a suitable replacement, I threw the stock Sovtek 12AX7WBs in V4. Awful in comparison. I was going to take my time and see if I could turn up a nice pr. of Tele NOS, but having grown accustomed to the Teles, I nailed a used pr. quickly and got the Sovteks the hell out of there. What are you running in the Calypso? I gotta believe if you roll the tubes you will be much more pleased with it.
My Rhea's new partner arrives today
Just bought it here on the A'gon. This is a bit of an experiment to see if it might be a better match with my Rhea phono stage thus replacing my current pre, a BAT 50SE. Don't get me wrong. I'm very happy with the BAT. I don't expect a big difference between these pre-amps, but I'm hoping the Calypso and Rhea together will add more depth to the music. If the Calypso stays it will allow for tube rolling where the BAT does not. So I'm hoping some other Aesthetix owners can offer tube suggestions.