Best small signal tube for a preamp?

My BAT, an early model (1997 I think) came with low noise Sovteks. Not much different (then) from the 6h23's - I thought the 6h23's might have been a tad, no more, warmer/smoother than the Sovteks but I was using them in my SP10 which is reknown for eating tubes (including the Siemens I tried in it - don't recall if they were 'grey plates'). So I gave up on all my fav' 6DJ8's/6922s and balanced out the rest of my system. I never tried Siemans in the BAT - I did notice though that it benefitted from very low noise tubes so I just kept life simple and used the same tubes in it as I did in my SP10. Thanks for the recommendations...........

Keshiri, I ended up taking out the 12AT7's and putting back in the stock EH 6922. Based on my limited experience with the Zoe so far, the 6922 tubes seem the way to go. As HP said, it is sort of fun being able to roll different tubes; but in the end I suspect the manufacturer already did this and put the most compatable tube type in the stock units. That said, I received the Amperex PQ USA White labels this week and burned them in a couple of days, then man oh man, what a nice sound. I have owned some pretty expensive gear, but I consistantly find the most expensive or most highly rated stuff is not necessarily what I like best. To me, this Lector set up (CDP 7TL MkIII and Zoe) is just great - very musical, dynamic, clear, quiet and just plain fun to listen to. I am currently running that front end into Cary 500MB monos and my Aerial 9's. I do have a wanted ad for another preamp (Lamm LL2), one I have always wanted to try, but I am not in a huge rush because everything sounds so good right now. Regarding your Zoe, I would stay with a 6922 varient, and personally I like the Amperex. I have used the CCa's Rodman99999 talks about in a SF Line 3 SE I used to own, and they are nice but maybe a touch on the clear/extended/neutral side of things compared to the better Amperex's which are a little more in the rich/organic/full-sounding camp - both have good bass.

"I have used the CCa's Rodman99999 talks about in a SF Line 3 SE I used to own, and they are nice but maybe a touch on the clear/extended/neutral side of things compared to the better Amperex's which are a little more in the rich/organic/full-sounding camp - both have good bass." Mitch2- This is a very accurate assessment of the sound of those tubes(good ear-Kudos).

Wow Mitch I'm glad your Amperexes are working great because I ended up checking for some last week (tube rolling's enticing) and got a decent deal at Ebay for a pair of NOS US Jan white label Amperex 7308 (from 1966). Can't wait 'till they arrive. I hope they're similar to the 6922 white pq's as I also like the rich /full sound. My Zoe's owner's manual states the unit is originally furnished with 12AU7, which I find also works well. Have you found the ideal tubes for your Lector cdp? Lector's upstream gear are obviously giant killers. I wonder how their power amps sound like. I'd love to get my hands on their phono stage, which apparently costs more than the ZOE...

Rodman99999, thanks for the comments - those CCa's are excellent (and expensive as you say), but I suspect they do more for some equipment than for others. They didn't seem to help the SF Line 3 SE too much, probably since it is already a little linear and forward sounding. I wasn't as good at system matching back then.