Your ceramic cartridge puts out less voltage than the original crystal.

No higher gain tube with the same basing of 12SQ7. You could rewire the socket and use 12SH7, 12SJ7 or similar tube. If you need a separate diode for the radio circuit 12SF7 could be used.

Other than that you need more cartridge output. Could use a small, single transistor, amplifier?

Norm

:I'm restoring an RCA 63E 78rpm 3 tube phono. The original crystal cartridge is toast..I found a Sonotone ceramic that will work (although the fit is not the best), but needs more gain in the amp. I put a 33mfd cap across the 50L6 cathode, but still could use a little more gain. It uses a 12SQ7 as the input tube..Are there any substutes for the 12SQ7 that have a higher gain? I could add another pre-amp stage, but am trying to avoid that to keep it original as possible. Any ideas?
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