Removing tubes in phono stage of preamp. Yes/No?


I just bought a Moscode Minuet preamp. (Haven't gotten it yet). I don't plan on using the phono stage. Can I remove the two 12AX7's from the phono stage without doing some harm to the preamp? The line stage uses two 12AX7's, also.

I'm thinking of doing this to reduce noise more than to spare tubes if they aren't necessary to the overall performance of the preamp. Would it be safer/better to just leave the tubes in the phono section and use shorting plugs on the phono RCA inputs?

Thanks for any advice.
richgib
If your trying to save some good expensive tubes ,just pick up some cheap Sovteks ( or similar ) inexpensive tubes to replace the tubes you don't use..This way you don't risk damaging your piece and can save the tubes you need to save..
Agree with Thorman. FWIW, noisy tubes in the phono stage should not be an audible issue if you are not using it. Shorting plugs are sometimes useful in any unused input, but not often. You don't need to solve problems that don't exist, but I keep a couple of pairs around to use if I have a problem and I'm trying to rule out sources.