Anyone modded a Steelhead?

"I run mine directly into my power amps(tubes),but I feel I could use a bit more fullness."

This is why you are lacking fullness.

Running the Steelhead into a pre , as I said isn't the solution I am looking for.Too may variables, extra components, wiring, electrical cords, to name a couple of potential pitfalls.
I more than likely would get some extra meat on the bone, but what would I be giving up?

Does anyone have any positive expereinces of matching the Manley with a pre-amp?Is their a marriage made in heaven?
I'm curious.

I know that modding most gear by replacing lesser quality parts with better ones, works.
Just wondering if anyone has dove into this fish pond.

I had a Steelhead for approximately 6 years that I bought new. I used a variety of NOS tubes, very good power cord (K-S emotion) and experimented with the different inputs and settings. The best results were obtained by using it only as a phono stage, through the fixed outputs, with a good quality line stage (at the time, a Lamm L2). I also preferred the MM inputs to the step-ups on the two cartridges I was using: a Lyra Titan i and an Airtight PC-1. I found that the addition of the line stage gave more weight and palpability to the sound; the Steelhead straight in had great bass and high frequencies, but sounded almost threadbare. Granted, I may have been adding an additional layer of cables and signal processing to the chain which is, in theory, not a 'purist' approach but that was my real world experience over the long haul, and not just a fast try-out of the piece or hearing it in someone else's system. The 'lack of meat on the bone' is precisely the difference I am describing, btw.