The very, "best" 12AT7 family tubes, are supposed to be Tele ECC801S's(http://www.jacmusic.com/nos/ECC81.htm), and for the 12AX7 family; the ECC803S's(http://tubedepot.com/pa-ecc803s-tele.html). Good luck, trying to find those, for less than your First Born male child. Whether the extremely clean sound of these would appeal to you..... well- that's what tube rolling is all about. BTW: Whatever you order; be certain they are graded for phono stage use(Upscale does a good job at this. Check their grading system). Any noise, in the phono circuit, will be VERY obvious at your speakers. As to the 5AR4/GZ34 Mullards; as long as you find one from the Blackburn Plant, you'll be happy(http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=mullard+blackburn+gz34&_sacat=0&_dmd=2&_odkw=mullard+5ar4&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313).
What Are The Best 12AT7's and 12AX7's?
I'm wondering if there are performance gains to be had via better quality/sounding tubes for my Herron VTPH-2. Thanks for the input.