New tubes or new preamp?

I am an inveterate tube roller who can tell you that in some cases of ARC gear, - tube rolling is not useful. I own a highly modded ARC SP6B which uses 6 12AX7s. It was very difficult to tame the glare I sometimes got using this pre. I had all sorts of tubes to roll none fixed the problem. In the end I just put in some good tubes of no special merit and gave up.
I don't know if that is the case with your ARC pre but even ARC would tell you which tubes were likely to change the sound and which did not.
You can buy a tubed pre that may be to your liking, but I have to agree with some others and say, that more ARC gear is not a going to cure your system's ills. I can't comment on the other brands you mentioned but you may want to check out 6SN7 based pre amps from Cary, such as the SLP-05. You can put a whole host of different tube brands and vintages in that pre.

I have had that preamp and the sound is dated even with vintage tubes Good for the money but not a Ref 3 or 5. Sell and replace it if you want a bigger step forward. Tube rolling is way overrated. Tubes only do so much. Jallen

Dump the ARC pre and get one that is more lively. I just went through this with a ARC SP-9 MarkIII. A pre-amp change absolutely transformed my system.

Russ69, What did you get to replace it?

Jallen that was very dismissive, listen to what the OP wants. ARC gear is "High Definition" to some this accuracy is what it is all about to others not so much. There is room in this world for more than one preference. I went to great lengths to illustrate that tubes don't allways change the sound.