Herron VTPH-2A Phono Preamp....anyone familiar?

Do not mistake me, the ph10 is still an excellent phono and I love its flexibility.

However I have moved away from exotic lomc carts tbh and likely just going to,play with various mm and vintage mm carts so do not truly need the gain the ph10 has available.

And there is that tube itch which I feel compelled to scratch......

The VTPH-2A uses 12at7 & 12ax7 tubes, can any body please tell me what tube brand Keith supplied/preferred for the VTPH-2A? Thx

Electro-Harmonix 12AX7 EHElectro-Harmonix 12AT7 EH
http://www.herronaudio.com/tubes.html

I'm very interested in the Herron. I've also been looking at the ModWright 9.0. Which way is best to go? I don't plan on buying another phono preamp in my lifetime, I want to make the right choice.

The Herron & Modwright are both great.  But I would choose the Herron.  One reason IMHO is that the Herron has a FET first stage for MC followed by a tube second stage for the MC (the tubes also act as the only stage for MM).  So, you can bypass the FETs when using an MC cart by using a separate SUT into the Herron's tube only MM stage.  However, the Modwright has a tube/JFET hybrid first stage for MC followed by constant current source loading for the second stage.  There does not seem to be a way to bypass the JFETs in the Modwright.  YMMV.