I need help regarding tube phono preamplifiers

I have struggled with noisy phono preamps when it comes to MC carts.

I recently purchased a Hagerman Trumpet MC. It is outstanding for a little bit over $1000 ($1090 I think).

Can’t afford or find a Heron VTPH-2A? The Hagerman, I’m hearing, can more than hang with this great phono preamp.

Main drawback is that it isn’t so flexible with MM but if you’re committed to MC carts, give this a try. Very quiet, organic and beautiful sounding no negative feedback design.

@sandthemall 

Yep, the Hagerman is crazy good for the money. I think it can hang with the Herron too. It does have a little bit more noise floor, and a warmer sound. The Herron is more neutral. But I love that lush sound quality about it. I've used it on my girlfriend's Fluance RT85, which it elevates to beyond what I though it was capable of. And I've used it for fun in my main rig, where I usually run vastly more expensive (15x more) phono stages. It's such musical and fun sound it never gives me a reason to "yank it out"! Even the accessories in the big 2ch rig cost more than the Trumpet MC lol. I don't normally like budget pieces or "giant killers" but I like that one. 

The Herron VTPH-2A is a special phono preamp.  I found nothing less than twice it's price that could compare, and to me it wasn't worth spending 10K+ to try and chase something that might be marginally better.  It totally changes the diminishing returns equation.

The problem will be finding one.  The rare times they do come up on the used market, they sell in a day or two max.  That alone should tell you something.

A VTPH-2A appeared on USAM a day or two ago at a price of $2900, and sold in a matter of hours. Guess whose it was? Hint: his location was listed as a city in northern Washington State. ;-)

I have owned an Aesthetix Rhea Signature, Aesthetix IO Signature and an ARC SP-10 mkll among others.  I currently use a Herron VTPH-2A.  I will preface my comments by stating that I think any of these could sound “the best” depending on ancillary equipment- System Synergy is really critical.  That said, I thought the IO had the largest soundstage and organic live quality that I like.  However, I just couldn’t keep it quiet with my .2mv cartridge.  So in came the Herron which was pretty close but dead quiet.  I then took a step that, I feel, puts the Herron on par and may even surpass the IO. In addition to tube rolling, I purchased a ZYX CPP-1 pre-preamp and then used the MM section of the Herron.  In my system, a hearty step forward on an already fine phono amp.