Preamp Deal of the Century

Mustang is absolutely correct on tube position for the Cortese. The 180 tubes are in front.
Mustang, I picked up the Lucinda Williams lp per your suggestion. Very good.
Also I thank you and Ecclectique for tube recommendations. Very helpful. Definite improvement. Great fun.
Mustang check out Amiee Mann if you get a chance.
Doc

Doc,
My comments pertained only to the Grange not the Cortese. I have no experience with it.
Thanks for the tip but I already own "Lost in Space". If you like that check out the albums by Til Tuesday. She was the lead singer, bassist, and songwriter for most of the material. I have all of the albums and highly recommend them. Thank you.

Tom.. the E180F's go in the front sockets. Putting the 6922's in the front followed by the E180F's in the "middle" of the preamp might destroy your preamp.

Cortese Tube Layout

.............6SN7..........6SN7.............
...............6922......6922...............
.................E180..E180.................

Thanks guys for getting me straight on the setup of the tubes. I got them in last night. When I first played the Cortese last night I was kind of unimpressed. It sounded hard and brittle with no bass. I let it play overnight and it did seem to sound better this morning. My nephew came over today to hear it. He is a guitar player, and he was playing with the gain switches. I had the 2 toggle gain switches on the top a low gain. When I would adjust the gain knob in the back it seemed to make no difference in the sound. When we moved the top gains to high, and adjusted the gain knob on the back I could hear the differences. All of a sudden there was tons of body and slam to the music. It took on a whole new life. Now I can't turn it off! I am getting a slight ground loop hum on phono. I have a ground wire from the ground post on the pre to the ground post on the back of the tonearm plug. Any ideas? If I take the ground wire off I still have the same slight hum. It is not bad and cannot be heard if music is playing. I know this thing will continue to get much better over time. It is going to be a fun trip!

I have a Cortese thats about 3 years old and I am thinking of doing the upgrade or ordering a new Cortese .
Has anyone upgraded their Cortese and could you explain the difference ?
Has anyone listened to a new and an older Cortese ?
How long is the wait for a new one? I may end up ordering a new Cortese and sell my existing one after .

Thanks,
Abill