Any experienced tube repair/upgrade person can handle this preamp.
You can change tubes although my original factory tubes are old enough to qualify as vintage and still sound fine to me.
Beneath the VTP-101i preamp I use Edensound (here on Audiogon) giant "Bear Paw" brass cones spiked into Myrtlewood "Paw Prints" to control resonances, and tune the chassis.
On the tubes I place Herbiesaudiolab.com vacuum tube dampers.
Have not felt any objects placed on top of the case improved the sound for my tastes so my preamp's top surface is bare.
My power cord is the Mapleshaderecords.com Double Helix Mk II Plus which looks strange but enables beautiful sound, and beat out a number of other cords when I compared them some years ago. This cord is still current on the Mapleshade website.
Clean the RCA connectors of your IC's with DeOxit Gold. You can even experiment with Mapleshade SilClear as it improves the sound for most listeners at modest cost. I use Walker Audio Extreme SST contact enhancer which must surely be better since it costs so much more :>)
There is very fine performance which is unveiled by great wiring, and with this unit I use Realitycables.com IC's with the upgraded RCA connectors.
These are some of the non-invasive type of upgrades or sidegrades which can be tried on your stock unit, and may do so well that you won't feel the need to make internal circuit or component alterations.
If you run your CD player/DAC's analog IC's into the preamp's external processor loop input jacks there is better CD sound, and then just by pushing in or out the front panel selector button for this external processor input you can toggle between CD or Phono which can be left permanently as the choice of your regular front panel input selector switch.
Lot's to do and try even before handing a Sound Valves preamp over to an audio surgeon.
You can change tubes although my original factory tubes are old enough to qualify as vintage and still sound fine to me.
Beneath the VTP-101i preamp I use Edensound (here on Audiogon) giant "Bear Paw" brass cones spiked into Myrtlewood "Paw Prints" to control resonances, and tune the chassis.
On the tubes I place Herbiesaudiolab.com vacuum tube dampers.
Have not felt any objects placed on top of the case improved the sound for my tastes so my preamp's top surface is bare.
My power cord is the Mapleshaderecords.com Double Helix Mk II Plus which looks strange but enables beautiful sound, and beat out a number of other cords when I compared them some years ago. This cord is still current on the Mapleshade website.
Clean the RCA connectors of your IC's with DeOxit Gold. You can even experiment with Mapleshade SilClear as it improves the sound for most listeners at modest cost. I use Walker Audio Extreme SST contact enhancer which must surely be better since it costs so much more :>)
There is very fine performance which is unveiled by great wiring, and with this unit I use Realitycables.com IC's with the upgraded RCA connectors.
These are some of the non-invasive type of upgrades or sidegrades which can be tried on your stock unit, and may do so well that you won't feel the need to make internal circuit or component alterations.
If you run your CD player/DAC's analog IC's into the preamp's external processor loop input jacks there is better CD sound, and then just by pushing in or out the front panel selector button for this external processor input you can toggle between CD or Phono which can be left permanently as the choice of your regular front panel input selector switch.
Lot's to do and try even before handing a Sound Valves preamp over to an audio surgeon.