Pappakap,
The greater the phonostage gain the more volume you should get. Also, Steve's "bigger" amps have more power so they should also give more volume. There is a limit to what an increase in input voltage will achieve. However, increasing voltage to the amp but throttling it back via the amp volume control, while not increasing volume, will increase the weight/density of the music. This can be perceived as an increase in volume.
Steve has this nice amp selection guide that explains some of this nicely but mainly pertains to speaker efficiency and amp power.
https://www.decware.com/newsite/buyingguide.htmlIn my case, I need a preamp after my phonostage to bring my volume up to the level that I get when using my CD player.
The Ortofon Blue is a good cartridge. To evaluate relative loudness of various cartridges on a given system look at the "Output Voltage" spec. The Blue is relatively high at 5.5mV (Output voltage at 1000 Hz, 5cm/sec., 5,5 mV). Output voltage for some of the "best" cartridges can be quite low but quality and output voltage don't necessarily track in any meaningful way.