[Chu]

Hello all. I absolutly love the LD2++ with the svetlana/mullard tube combo, enough to keep the amp around even though it's having a horrible radio pickup issue that I'm 99% sure is related to inadequate grounding (I touch the amp in a special spot, the problem goes away).

I finally opened the thing up and saw if I could spot some mechanical reason for it since most people don't have this issue. Well, something that caught my eye was the solder joints around the tube pads.

I've seen cold solder joints before but those . . . I don't really know what's going on. Is there some issue here that might be worth looking further into, or is this something I shouldn't really touch?

Also, I have suspected the pot might be playing some issue because when the pot is all the way to the left the radio pickup switches channels! I am wondering if anyone knows if any other good audio pots (50k, log) that share the same 3x2 "pinout" that this amp does, but can be had for less then the $20 alps 50k pots.

 

[Pars]

The first pic of the tube pins looks like a bunch of flux... I'd clean up all the old solder, etc. and redo those.

As for pots, for $20 or less the Alps blue RK27 is probably the best thing going, and has the right pinout (not sure what is in this currently). Others you could try would be Noble (hard to find, percy or partsconnexion), TKD ($65, pinout is right, but pins are solder tabs...). The board needs cleaning around the pot pins as well.

Chris