I have moved away from 12at7 / 12av7 and gone to 6211 and finally RCA 5965, this to me balances out warmth and detail.
What are you using? I was so enamored by the 8900 and 8600 and still believe they are good amps/designs but the flexibility of power tubes of the 8800 puts it in 1st place. Listening to the same blues, vocals, instrumentals, to me favors the 8900/8600 but the 8800 is no slouch and when I want to just put any genre on and not worry about sonics but just envelope into the music, 8800 can’t be beat. Keep in mind it is of course synergy to my system and the parts I have used such as Audio Note caps, Audio Note resistors in strategic locations. Even Jupiter caps puts this leagues above other competitors. And I have had a lot of “boutique” brands in the house.
