Mullard cv4003 & 12au7 Blackburn

In addition, Brimar has similar sonics to Mullard...warm, liquid mids and a smooth top-end. I have various 1950's Mullard Longplates, the low noise sound exceptional.
But I found that the Brimar CV4003 have excellent depth, and upper and lower extension.

I spoke with Andy at Vintage Tube at length regarding Mullard, since I was looking for the very best, most holographic tube that Mullard offered. He stated that the ECC82/12au7 Boxplate and the Longplate O-Getter 1950's had the finest sonics and measured as lowest noise.

The CV4003, also Blackburn, is not as extended and he thinks is a lesser grade tube; (1970's). Kevin at Upscale disagrees.
Google Joe's Tube Lore and read his findings after testing many brands and tube types.

Edit...My bad, in looking thru my notes, it is the cv4004/12AX7 that Andy said was a lower grade Mullard. The CV4003 is a military spec box plate.

@msommers , well done. And it seems like his prices are only a rough number for the price of tubes. The price changes with the quality of the tube (how well it tests).

A couple of questions for you...
- What gear are you using?
- Why did you need all Mullard? Different amp/preamp stages can use mixed brands of tubes.

the highs were too shrill and the mids a little recessed.

I've been there. Mullards are the way to go. The cathode follower does influence the overall sonic signature, but less than the front tube, of course.
I've used Mullards for gain and RCA Cleartops as followers. You get the Mullard sonic signature with some air at the top-end.

Let us know how it turns out.
Oh yeah, what did Andy say about the CV4003 tube?

Good deal, @msommers . I've bought from Andy four times and all his tubes have been of outstanding quality.