Are there any other EAR 834P modders lately?

Slaw- glad your having fun with it. Read my simple post above again about SUT ( step up transformers) - the coil of wire that increases the voltage passively- without any active gain stage like an amplifier does.

MC cartridges are such low voltages that they have to be boosted before you put them into the phono preamplifier's gain stage in order to get a decent signal for the preamplifier. Or you can try some of Frogman's MM cartridge recommendations because they have a high voltage to start with.

Found some good info Audio Assylum thread and Joe's Tube lore. Many agree ( Joe- and other tube experts that tell me Joe is pretty much right on on most of his analysis) that the 12AX7 is a hazy, cloudy, non-detailed tube in most circuits. IMO it is better to change to something else for V1 (toward the back of the unit). Tim DiP does say you can use a 12AU7 instead, but he recommends only 12AX7 in the other 2 spots. Apparently RIAA is handled mainly by V2. V3 is actually a cathode follower tube and some have used non matching alternatives in V2 and V3 against Tim DiP's advice with good results. I am buying a Brimar CV4004 (it better be worth the high price) for V2 and will leave the Telefuncan Fisher in the cathode follower V3, and my Valvo 6201 blue print in V1.

Got the Brimar CV 4004 today- it is a variant of 12AX7 that went in to V2. Some one this thread had mentioned a Mullard CV 4004 for V2 being a good choice as well. The Brimar lowered my noise floor and increased the detail, but it did not match the telefuncan 12AX7 that I had in V3. My current recommendation based on my tube rolling with this modded EAR 834P:
I now have Valvo 6201 blue print in V1 ( 6201 is a 12AT7 variant), Brimar CV 4004 dated 1962 in V2, and Sylvania Gold Brand gold pin 6201 in V3. This is my best combination yet! I collected quite a few high end tubes on this journey, but should get many hours of vinyl/ tube pleasure.

Zenbret, You wrote, "Passive preamps and attenuators add resistance to the signal path and boost the voltage." That statement is kind of a mess. Some passive preamps do employ transformers or autoformers as "volume controls". Such devices can change the ratio of voltage to current of an audio signal (i.e., for any increase in V there would be a proportional decrease in current, or vice-versa; it's the law according to Ohm). But there is no free lunch, because they are passive, which by definition means they add no gain. A conventional attenuator, of which there are several types, is purely resistive. It also can add no voltage gain, because such a device is also "passive". A "resistive" attenuator is only able to decrease the amplitude of the signal that passes through it, via presenting a resistance to that signal. The subtracted energy is dissipated as heat.

Zenbret: I was having fun but working hard at the same time. I guess I failed to mention I'm using a BOb's Cinemag 3440 w/ Dyna Karat D3. I'm in the process of listing my system, so it will take a while to complete. In what could only happen to me, last weekend I was using my motor enclosure design and the sound seemed different than ususal which is mainly why I decided to experiment with tubes again. Found out later that night my enclosure had split ( part of it was made from Purpleheart, I'm assumming it hadn't completetly dried. anyway, it changed the character of the sound, thats's when I started another day of re-experimenting. Luckily, I had a replacement (upgrade enclosure already in the works and installed it Tuesday). After tube swapping a good bit this week I'm back close to where I started. Siemens in V1 @ V2, Tele in V3. The enclosure works very well.