[Thrash]

Originally Posted by BillSPrestonEsq

In the future, I would not use contact cleaner on new tubes.

Why not? Is it bad to use it on new tubes? Or is it just not necessary.

I am quite confused mainly because they say it is important to, but a lot of other people say either you shouldn't or it doesn't matter much.

[BillSPrestonEsq]

Originally Posted by Thrash

Why not? Is it bad to use it on new tubes? Or is it just not necessary.

I am quite confused mainly because they say it is important to, but a lot of other people say either you shouldn't or it doesn't matter much.

Here is my thought.

Contact cleaner is a great thing, if you need it. If not, you have introduced a solvent into the equation that may or may not be conductive. Assuming your pins are new, and your sockets are not corroded, it just introduces an extra variable into things.

A cracked tube would just be a mess. I won't even speculate what all it could do.

I also would not replace preamp tubes unless there is a problem.

Even with some mild oxidization, often, popping a tube out a few times is enough to knock it loose and regain contact.

I have seen similar problems to stratopastor. Perhaps the solvent knocked loose some conductive material. Just spraying it on you don't clean it up and it can combine and potentially create a path that is shorting something. I might clean off the actual sockets to remove any spray or anything to try to rule out any possible issue if the tube fix doesn't get rid of your tube issues.

[RipVanWinkle]

Any updates my friend?