I'm having trouble deciding

I had a ModWright SWL 9.0SE and later had Dan convert it to an SWLP with phono stage. I opted for the blue face option. I probably would have stayed with it, but I built a DAC that was designed to sound best with balanced output, so I sold it. Dan offered to put XLR's in it but it would not be a true balanced output. There was an option for internal or external PS, the external being an upgrade. It uses a 5AR4 rectifier tube.

The pre takes a 5687 tube which some do not care for. I call it clean and detailed, the haters say it sounds like solid state. Similar to a 6H30 tube (the cleanest and most linear sounding), which is what's in the pre amp I have now. 7119 was an optional tube some preferred. A big tube upgrade was using a Bendix 6900 cold war missile tube (near twice the transconductance), but those are very pricey. MU Engineering had bought the Bendix Redbank division and rebranded existing stock and continued to manufacture with Bendix tooling. Back when I owned the ModWright, you could buy those MU6900 cheap (like $300 a pair versus $800 a pair for Bendix) until folks caught on that they were the same tube.

Also be aware the ModWright inverts phase so you have to reverse speaker cables which is not a big deal. Dan was not the only manufacturer to do that. That also depends on how many gain stages your amp has, in other words if your amp inverts polarity. Pres that invert phase did that for purity so they wouldn't have to add another gain stage to correct phase.




Fun fact, the 6900 for ICBM use had an impact shock rating of 500 G and a maximum vibrational acceleration of 50 G.

On the other hand, it only had to work once.

LOL Excellent point!