@bigmac1963 Here's something to try:
Put both preamps side by side. Do not use any loading on the cartridge other than the stock 47KOhms.
Use the same LP and listen to both. Does one of them seem to play more surface noise than the other or sound brighter? Don't get that one.
The surface noise is high frequency overload that manifests as ticks and pops. The brightness is distortion caused by high frequency overload.
FWIW its far easier to design a tube phono section that does not have this problem. With semiconductors the circuit you want to avoid overloading (the input) might be outside of the feedback loop.