[floresjc]

I've had my T10 for a few months now and it has kind of a quirk. Basically when I start it up it take a good five to ten minutes for me to get any sound out of the right channel.

I assume this is a bad tube issue? Seems to work fine once it gets going. I've only used this preamp with headphones because it's on my desk at work.

[sumoking]

Why don’t people call the company instead of create a thread on AC for customer service issues?
Geez Frank answers the phone himself nearly any reasonable time of day.
The customer service support for no company is a public blog.

If you have really poor service then a blog could be an outlet, but Frank provides excellent serviceeven in difficult times. Just calling this out cause Frank’s 40 years of excellent customer service deserves to be supported. Happy Holidays! cheers!

[floresjc]

Slow your roll bro. I've called Frank plenty of times in the last 12 years.

While he's clearly enthusiastic about his product I don't think he would have appreciated me calling him late on a Saturday night or early on a Sunday about a minor issue I suspect can be fix for roughly thirty bucks.

Since this is my first tube preamp I figured some if the more experienced hands could confirm my suspicion.

This forum sees a decent amount of traffic but there is plenty of space to ask questions. In the fifteen or so years I've been here everything from technical issues to product releases and reviews have been discussed.

[aln]

Swap tubes and see if the problem follows the tube.  That will tell you something.

[richidoo]

When I started to keep a reserve of backup tubes and fuses on hand my enjoyment of tube gear improved dramatically.
If a noise or quirky behavior develops it’s easy to swap tubes side to side or swap in a new tube or a pair to see if the problem resolves. Sick tubes eat fuses so they are wise to have some on hand. Sovtek is reliable and relatively cheap so one or two of each type you use might only cost $100 - good investment. If you can do simple solder repairs then having cathode resistors on hand can be helpful too for tube power amps.

[avahifi]

As mentioned above, swap tubes channel to channel (with the preamp turned off) and see if the issue follows the tube.

Call me with the results.

651-330-9871

Frank

[floresjc]

Swapped tubes today in their channels. Fired it up. Worked with no issues right out the gate. I'll keep a better note of when I have issues and readdress if it comes back.

[Wayner]

I believe that most electrical problems are actually mechanical in nature. To that end, sometimes it's obvious that the interface between a tube pin and its mating tube socket has an issue. I have found that many times, removing the tubes and re-inserting them solves the problem. You might have now discovered that too. Swap the tubes back again and you might find that the problem has gone away.

'ner

[sebrof]

I believe that most electrical problems are actually mechanical in nature. To that end, sometimes it's obvious that the interface between a tube pin and its mating tube socket has an issue. I have found that many times, removing the tubes and re-inserting them solves the problem. You might have now discovered that too. Swap the tubes back again and you might find that the problem has gone away.

'ner

Jim McShane (tube seller) has a thorough write up about "Tube Problems" That Aren't Tube Problems. I just searched "Jim McShane Tube Problems" That Aren't Tube Problems" and found a lengthy post from Jim about it, may be of interest to some.