A few basic tube questions

You've asked good questions, but now it's time to listen to your system's synergy. Forget about that Russian tube; you've first got to hear the new preamp and amps with your speakers, cables, and source; then keep listening thruout the burn-in period. It should be an exciting and enjoyable experience. I'll bet it will continue to sound better each day.

Well, FWIW, while your assumption sounds logical, in practice it is meaningless, in your case especially.

The Quicksilver uses two small tubes, one 12AX7, and one 6922. The Dodd uses two 6922's (or 6h30's). So what you can conclude from that is that the Quicksilver will have a tone that is to some extent a composite of the two different tubes and how they interact, sonically, with the power tubes. Not so with the Dodd, which require two identical tubes.

Depending on how the Quicksilver tubes are used, one type will contribute the tone more than the other, they serve different purposes. Do you know which? In any event it will be a composite tone, not be the same tone as two 6922's in the Dodd, so what purpose would be served in making the 6922's identical?

FWIW, decisions about tube choice must be made on the sound they will produce. To see how complex this can become consider, the sound from any given tube unit, amp or pre-amp, or both combined, is the sum of the different component's tubes and the unit's design and the implementation of the tubes in the design.

It really isn't simple! Especially if you really have high expectations. It's fun to tune your own system to find the sound you want, but it ain't a walk in the park with your dog on a Sunday afternoon. Its a real commitment which requires both knowledge and patience.

But how you proceed is your choice. Good luck.

I have a Ayon tube amp, and regards KT-88 power tubes, here are the observations I have made... Genelec Gold Lion tubes are fairly unreliable (blow readily) while the Chinese tubes, those from Grant Fidelity (a fine company to deal with), the Psvane tubes (a bit more expensive than the Russian Genelecs) seem to be reliable. As for sound... the two tubes are, essentially, identical in terms of image size, image specificity, air, and fullness (palpable presence). The Russian tubes (Genelecs) have slightly tighter bass, are slightly more dynamic, and a tad more lively... but are more grainy sounding (harsher with digital recordings), not as smooth or relaxed, or natural sounding as the Psvanes. The Psvanes are more organic sounding, less fatiguing, and generally better. But like Lostbears says, changing out the tubes will not "redifine" the sound... though the differences in brands (at least Psvane vs. Genelec) does make a difference that is jnoticible. Over time, I find the Psvanes to be superior to the Genelecs... albeit, not by staggering amount... it is somewhat subtle, but meaningful and more than warrants the price difference. If you go the KT88 route, go Chinese rather than Russian.

I would buy NOS tubes (preamp or power) from reputable sources like the ones you listed. I've also had a good experience with buying from Jim McShane as well as Brent Jesse. For new reissue tubes I've had good experience with Doug's Tubes. These sellers do a better job of testing and matching etc. Buying used can be a bit of a slippery slope. If you are lucky you save some money but if you aren't you may end up spending more money than if you just went to tubemonger etc at first. I've been burned buying used tubes from non reputable sources. Most of the time they were noisy or microphonic.

Start with getting new powercords. I put 5 Nordost Blue Heavens in my system and they made more of a difference than tube rolling my amp and preamp. Just try to get matching tubes then keep a back up(full) set plus one or two more tubes handy in case one or two fail. Best of luck.