Just a reminder to not overlook your amplification in this equation. By way of example, with my Violectric I can drive the Aeolus into sounding "less" warm and more forward. On my Woo Audio gear, if I pick the wrong tube pairing, then it's molasses city, however with a carefully chosen 12AT7 I can drive into a more neutral / forward position and the Aeolus (again) sounds absolutely fantastic
Have you tried the Amperex 7062? That equivalent of a 12at7 in my pendant sounds terrific with my Aeolus. It has a similar effect of what you describe as more forward. I described it as "warm" cause it has a lot of body in the mids and is not lacking bass, but the qualities of the low end, lean more on the tight textured bass and no about the quantity. However the speed of that tube is just incredible. Is one of those High quality tubes that you still find at affordable prices. A quote of what I posted in the Pendant thread about that tube...
"- Amperex 7062 $39 (12aT7 equivalent ): Not really sure of this tube being mentioned before in the thread, so I will write a few lines about it...
This is in the top of my list cause it ticks a lot of boxes of a nice tube. They were only made by Amperex in Holland and USA, so there aren't any other lower quality versions for what I could find. The sound of the 7062 in my system is fast, holographic and punchy. Bass is tight and impactful, Texture of the midrange is superb, providing that classic Amperex warmth. The top end is detailed and without any glare or harshness. The soundstage is big and kind of 3D, it has the expected imaging of a long plate input tube.
I have been able to try three versions of this tube:
>Holland D-Getter (Pinched waist): Warmer, Holographic, the presentation is more mid forward.
>Holland D-Getter: While still in the warm side, this tube is more neutral.
>USA "O" Getter: A bit less transparent, still very good but I find it less detailed.
There are some caveats when searching for a 7062 for your collection, in contrast to other tall tubes like 12bh7, this tubes are not prone to be noisy, but they tend to be a bit microphonic, it can be normal to a certain point. Other minor thing is that the ¨burning in¨ process of this tubes require a lot of patience."
* Update. Now with more that 70hrs with the pinched waist D getter, the sound is even more linear and holographic than the other versions, with no loss of detail or speed.