Phono Preamp Tube Rush

As mentioned above, tube rush is a fact of life with tube phono stages...to a greater or lesser extent. Even with matched NOS tubes, the amount of rush will depend on how much gain is applied to the tube.
When i hear folks say they have no or very little tube rush, that tells me that they are not listening to the speakers that close....or at very high levels. Push up the gain...and there comes the rush.
I have fought this battle for years, as my CAT preamp has had a number of different NOS tubes rolled into it..and there is always some tube rush...IF i listen very closely to the speakers. Not bothersome to me, and I do NOT hear it once the music is playing, but it has always made me question how much is actually lost in the presentation of the music vs. a ss device that is perfectly quiet ( if there is such a device)...vs how much is lost due to the beauty of tube phono stage reproduction vs. ss phono stage reproduction. I still way prefer tubes.

I have a Musical Surroundings Nova Phonemena (solid state with a DC power supply) and a Manley Chinook (tubes).  If I turn up my preamp to the 12 o'clock position with nothing playing, I hear no added noise with the Nova.  There is an audible increase in the noise level with the Chinook, but it's not overwhelming.  I don't notice the additional noise from the Chinook when I'm playing records and that 12 o'clock position on the volume dial is about as loud as I listen. 

Which pre do I like better?  The Chinook.  So yes, some noise is the price you pay for tubes.  I have low noise tubes that I purchased from Brent Jessee and I think they helped, and I'll take a little bit of noise to get that tube magic.

Thanks for the helpful responses!  Thanks mulvely and daveyf especially because I think our experiences are similar. I do listen to my Harbeth M30.1s in the near field which I'm now realizing is another factor. 

I can certainly identify with this topic and the advice so far has been spot on consistent with my experience.  I too have a Herron VTPH-2A and noticed tube rush only a foot or so from the speaker when volume is up quite loud and BEFORE needle touches the vinyl.  I have found a bit of success (in my quest to lower the phono noise floor) by moving from a 0.3mV cart to a 0.5mV and by dialing gain and loading through a Zesto SUT.  I've had discussions with Roger Modjeski about possible noise reduction using his SNL tubes (at ~$100/ea) in the 1st gain stage of the Herron. He thought it might lower the noise floor a few dB but he said it's hard to say.  Haven't pulled the trigger on new tubes yet.

Almarg, You are very kind to answer for Hagtech.  Maybe he will also answer for himself.  Just in case he was not talking about "Johnson noise".  Apparently every conductor creates Johnson noise, It's not a property inherent to transformers only.