I’ve been seeing pics of and ads for the EH 12AY7 preamp but always dismissed this preamp as a weird looking strangely configured oddity, with two (I assumed to be starved plate) tubes sticking out the top. But then my interest was peaked by a Gearslutz thread in which some were saying it was high voltage and sounded good. Most however, also warned of the problem with humming and noise, and the lack of significant gain with only 50db. Since they are so cheap, I thought I’d take the plunge and if it hummed, I would return it. Well, it just so happens that right before I got the 12AY7 pre, I had just snagged an NOS Shure M67. When I got the 12AY7 pre, I thought I’d try running it through the balanced line input on the M67. Voila! Worked perfectly and was dead quiet. No humming, hissing or other noise. Going to the M67, and using the M67s output, I have a ton of quiet gain (around 70 to 80db or so). Plus, I get a little transformer coloration from the M67 and it makes the 12AY7 sound even sweeter. A match made in heaven. A week or so ago, I gave into the hype and ordered a Warm Audio Tone Beast. Since it cost nearly three times what I paid for the 12AY7, I expected something really special. Wrong! Compared to the EH 12AY7/M67 combo, the Tone Beast sounded thin, cheap, and flat. Hard to believe but true. I kept A/Bing the two because I couldn’t believe my ears. This was not a subtle, I think I hear a difference kind of thing. It was like night and day. I sold the Tone Beast because I knew I would never pick it over the 12AY7.