Wow! You are the man jimp. The current amp versus voltage amp explains alot.

I don’t mean to be a purist about this but plugging straight into a tube is not the same as going through an op amp first.
I totally understand though that is not what I am attempting. I currently use the BBE Sonic Stomp on my pedal board and it stays on all the time. This is the very same circuit I am using in the Crate. It is not simply an active tone circuit but is meant to filter out unwanted harmonics and phase cancellations that would tend to make the sound muddy and muted. I have played through a fair share of small tube amps and this is very often the case.

That being said, the purpose of this amp is to be a practice amp. I need it portable and quick to set up without a lot of outboard gear to worry about. Since the bloviator (Sonic Stomp) makes such a vast improvement on the input signal and I foresee using it constantly it made sense to actually install it in the circuit permanently. I am doing away with the Crates opamp circuit and adding the 68K resistor at the preamp tubes input thus making this an all tube amp. The bloviator circuit is on its own board and wired through the input as if it were still a pedal plugged into the input jack. And just as easy to remove as it will be to install. Also gives me an entry point if I were to want to expand the circuit.