Newb Tube question

Not long ago I bought a quad each of Upscale Audio’s Platinum Grade for the following Russian re-issue tubes: Mullard, Tung-Sol gold pins, Gold Lion. For use in my VAC Renaissance phono stage. All of them sound really good! But yes I slightly prefer the long plates (Mullard, Gold Lion) to short (Tung-Sol). The Gold Lions are particularly nice. The Mullards are great for systems that need help taming an aggressive treble response.

I also tested these in my MaxPreamp2 tester, and yes both long plate types show notably higher transconductance than the short plate Tung-Sol (+10% - 15%). The Tung-Sols weren’t weak, though - in fact they’re still a good deal stronger than most of the vintage/NOS 12ax7 in my large collection.

That said, even though they measure a lot lower in transconductance, my favorite vintage 12ax7- the 1960’s Mazda chrome plates - still whip all 3 of the the new tubes in detail. I’m currently using a mix of Mazdas and the tall plate Russians, since too much Mazdas causes too much top-end energy.

+1 Tomcy6.....great answer!

I moved from NAD PP2 to the ProJect Tube Box DS.  I would imagine the sound is similar to your model.  That move was dramatic in my system.  I have Audio Research amps and preamp so later upgraded to the PH5 which was another wonderful leap in sound.  It seems we are similar that we simply love what the tubes offer...in general.  I have had minimal experience with tube rolling and have not been able to distinguish or see any appreciable differences.  You have options for a minimal investment so I would encourage you to look at a different mfg tube.  You get into the NOS realm and you can easily spend more on a pair of tubes than you did on the preamp.  I feel it would be a better investment to upgrade the component to whatever brand preamp speaks to you.  Shop the used market and you can always resell if you don't like it.

Having recently acquired a Pro Ject Tube Box S2 phono stage,

I'm liking what I hear

and am wanting to learn more about tubes.

No no no, it's a bottomless well, stick with whatever you already like, sleep like a newborn baby.

Your 65 year old ears will be able to hear the difference if you're a critical listener.  I'm 63 and have significant hearing loss (so I listen at an elevated volume) and I am able to hear things I would never have believed, and it's because I'm a critical listener.  When I listen, I sit in the sweet spot in a dark listening room so I'm not distracted by anything.  My attention is focused on the music, i.e., there are never any other thoughts running around in my mind, I'm totally fixated on the music.  My listening pleasure comes from, as an example, hearing every nuanced expression in Etta James' voice (in my opinion that woman's vocal chords are connected directly to her heart).  During one listening session, I heard something change in her voice and became worried there was something wrong with my audio gear.  (FYI:  IF I had been listening to the music as "background" music I never would have noticed a change in her voice.)  I put on a CD designed to "break in" audio gear and selected the track with a frequency sweep form 20Hz to 20kHz.  As the pitch began to climb I heard a very slight "rattle" coming from behind my speakers at around 400Hz.  I walked back there to find I had placed the steel top plates of my mono bloc amps (which I had removed for additional cooling) leaning against the wall on top of each other.  As the frequency swept through 400Hz they began to softly rattle and then stopped as the pitch continued to climb.  I laid them flat on the carpet, put Etta James back on and was totally relieved when her reproduced voice was back to normal.  I'll give you an example of what critical listening is for me.  A friend asks you (or me) to take a ride with them in their car to help them identify a noise they hear.  After driving around for 20 minutes listening to your friend say "it's kind of like a chirping sound coming from the front right tire", you finally hear it.  Now you're trained to hear it, and each and every time you get in your friends car you hear the sound without effort.  So how is that like critical listening?  The by-product of sitting in the sweet spot and listening to every nuance of the music is that the "training" happens naturally.  Once you're used to listening to the detailed expressions of a female vocalist (for example) it comes without effort each time you sit down to listen.  My point in all this is that the "training" I'm referring to happens even if there is significant hearing loss, as in my case.  Are there things I can't hear?  Undoubtedly, but I can easily hear the difference between audio electronics, and, if you're a critical listener, you'll be able to as well.