LJMC Amp

Moving coil pickups do not provide very much signal! From an objective point of view, valves/tubes are not an obvious choice of electronics for this job. MC pickups are low impedance devices, delivering so to say more current than voltage. Since tubes are high impedance devices and can be noisy, - there are many problems to be solved. Today, I might look for a different solution, maybe a grounded grid, which includes a negative supply, if I was to stay with tubes..........
Anyway, the present diagram / amp is my own construction. Since you need maximum gain from the first stage to fight noise, I went for a constant current source as anode resistance. The first version used a depletion mode FET transistor, worked, but high voltage combined with low noise made it difficult to find the proper FET. I tried a number of solutions, including 2SK 389, and used the 8 pin IC socket and a pin mount to check and switch FETs. Later on, I found the bipolar 2SA 737, extremely low noise together with a very low bulk-base resistance, and decided to use it. The diagram is fairly simple, one ECC 88 double triode tube, connected in parallel. Amplifier gain depends on the used tubes, no tubes are exactly identical, but expect something like 25 - 35 X with ECC 88. As I mentioned in the McIntoshLJ preamp section, you will need some sort of gain adjustment later on in the following preamp. You will also need a high impedance input - suggestion is 1 M Ohm. Tubes must be selected in respect to noise. Circuit inverts absolute phase.
When I worked with this amp, I had access to the Ortofon T2000 head amp transformer, which was a very expensive piece of equipment at that time. Several friends came for listening sessions, compairing sound with my amp. General impression was that T2000 was less noisy, but my amp had another freedom of sound, more detailed top and a better soundstage. I was happy for that verdict! The amp is still in use today.