Herron VTPH-2 12ax7 Recommendations?

Thanks ochremoon. In the 80's I had the Frank Van Alstine Super Pas in which he used 5751's (Sylvania, if memory serves) instead of 12AX7's, for their linearity and low noise said Frank. I had Keith send my VTPH-1mm with two 12AX7's and two 12AT7's in order to get the lower gain and higher overload margin that combination affords. I use a very high output cartridge (5mv!), so I don't need the gain. I believe I'll audition a pair of 5751's in place of the 12AX7's myself.

Went ahead finally and bought from a well reviewed seller on eBay a matched low noise pair of Telefunken 12ax7 smooth plates. I'm not sure how it's possible to make such a great phono pre better but somehow these tubes do. It's just more of everything that the Herron is so great at: tonality, soundstage, dynamics. I'm sad when the day is over and I can't listen anymore. 

One thing though, the "matched" teles were not so I’ve had to adjust the balance on my VTSP to 1 o’clock. Keith says no sonic penality, but it makes me nervous....

Another update for people searching the archives for tube advice on the VTSP2: Telefunken 12at7 are a HUGE upgrade from the stock EH. 

In the end I’ve found this unit to be very sensitive to matching. Trying to get a solid center balance with NOS requires some swapping of sides with both tube types. Worth it though. Once it’s dialed in, I think it’s as good as anything I’ve heard including my ASR Basis Exclusive. 

One final update. I grew tired of the Telefunken 12AT7. Too analytical and I still wasn't able to match the balance very well with them and I found out why: it's the middle 12AT7, the one supplied as an Ei tube. It's the single output tube and that's the one that was out of balance. I put one of the Telefunkens in there and everything just came together. I started out with generic Holland labeled 12AT7s to replace the Telefunkens and everything was great, way way better than the stock 12AT7s. Spent a bunch of money on Mazdas and frankly the upgrade wasn't worth the money. A bit bigger soundstage than the generics. Maybe a tiny bit smoother vocals. Strings are nicer by a bit. So technically better but I was very happy with the generics too.