My Freya (original version bought new a few years ago) isn't now and has never been sensitive to microphonics...a myth from some critics that's clearly nonsense. The tubes can be rolled among all the brands available and, although finding a bad tube is possible, I haven't found a single one among the many NOS and new tubes I've stuck in the preamp...my current quad of NOS GEs has held up for a long time and sound spectacular, are clear and clean and utterly non microphonic.