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Other opinions are available but I think guitar amps are a good application for tubes and phono pre amps are not.
NAD do a decent basic one with MC and MM. Cambridge Audio do a few that are rated for sensible money.
I wouldn't bother looking at MC unless your total budget including a cartridge is around £1k.
MC works the same as MM once you've used a transformer to increase output from the first stage. The tube part of a pre will be after the initial amplification in the case of MM, then RIAA adjustment, then amplification to line level is where the tube will be.
Beyond the NAD and Cambridge audio level it's minimal gains in measurable electrical terms. In hi-fi terms who knows. Blacker blacks, wider soundstage etc. etc.
Airhead
@salad
Thank you for the elaborate reply!
Looked into that book, gotta admit that's way over my head though 😅
Loved that he prefaced it with To Julie, with all my love
Frankly I'm not willing to go that deep / build my own etc. -
I just kinda / roughly know what character tubes would bring to my setup (I'm familiar with tube guitar & bass amps for what it's worth), and I'm interested in having that / trying to figure out how much it would cost and whether it would work with both MM and MC.