It seems that I recall reading that Kevin Hayes "voices" all his amps to the tubes that come with it from the factory. I read a thread, I think in the amp asylum website, where several people replaced the factory tubes with expensive NOS tubes and ended up going back to the factory tubes. If I were you, I'd give Kevin Hayes a call to get his opinion. He probably keeps a record of your unit and if he's found better tubes to keep with the "voicing", he'll recommend them to you or sell them to you, if he has some available. I also have a VAC Avatar on my short-list to power my Reference 3a Dulcets.