i was sweeping up today and this print popped out from behind the book case, i believe it is the long lost alembic fb-2 one off that i did for somebody. they liked it and wanted another and i was unable to comply as the print was gone. i believe it was done on a Litton and Hurst lam, the one used on the Neve stuff. 23 K is not the best match for a 12AX7a but it is a ton better than 600 ohms. and who uses 600 ohms nowadays so if you output it into a 10K load then the plate now sees 23 x 10K = 230 K, now were talkin bass response. 48 is hard to work with, but you need a lot of turns on a core that small to get the pri ind.
i tried the alembic with a pot output, it was ok, kind of noisy and wimpy bass but when i hooked up the transformer, my socks rolled up and down with delight.
they have a new tube screamer that uses a tube but it is 450 dollars and not that impressive.