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This is actually my favorite part of any custom builds I've done for people. The "dialing in" part. And crazy as it sounds I like it best when I discover the thing I'm after requires something non obvious. Like all the coupling and bypass caps you experimented with seemed like the obvious solution, but it turned out to be something else.
There are a few significant things to changing a 150k grid leak to 1M. Not the least of which is the in circuit impedance. I may get an argument on this, but, there's a difference in "feel" and the subtleties of pick attack when you lighten the load on a tube stage. The way things compress (or don't) changes in response to swinging voltages with a change from a lower circuit impedance to higher. So your solution doesn't seem odd to me at all in my experience.
There are a few significant things to changing a 150k grid leak to 1M. Not the least of which is the in circuit impedance. I may get an argument on this, but, there's a difference in "feel" and the subtleties of pick attack when you lighten the load on a tube stage. The way things compress (or don't) changes in response to swinging voltages with a change from a lower circuit impedance to higher. So your solution doesn't seem odd to me at all in my experience.
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