New Masseto owner - tube question

[magosak]

The Masseto I bought a couple of days ago developed a tube problem within a couple of hours of use. The left channel started making occasional popping sounds and then became unlistenable. I took the preamp back to the seller whom traced the problem to one of the Telefunken LCP 86 tubes.

He has contacted Shindo and order one tube to replace the defective one. Apparently Shindo indicated that it was not necessary to have both tubes replaced. It is my understanding that preamp tubes had to be closely matched for L/R channels to be balanced. I would have also expected Shindo to insist on selling matched tubes. Has any Masseto owner been in a similar situation and just purchased one tube?

 

[Katoomer]

Who did he contact at Shindo? If it was one of the authorized dealers or Tone Imports ( the distributor), then I would trust them completely. I have never had any issues with tubes in my Masseto but I did accidentally break one of the F2A tubes in my Cortese. Matt at Pitch Perfect sent me a replacement single tube and instructions on how to bias the tubes. worked perfect.

 

[magosak]

Who did he contact at Shindo? If it was one of the authorized dealers or Tone Imports ( the distributor), then I would trust them completely. I have never had any issues with tubes in my Masseto but I did accidentally break one of the F2A tubes in my Cortese. Matt at Pitch Perfect sent me a replacement single tube and instructions on how to bias the tubes. worked perfect.

Thank you for your reply Dale. Apparently he contacted Japan first and was asked to contacted the US distributor whom directed him to the dealer in Montreal. I am not aware of any biasing pot in the Masseto.

 

[baddog]

@magosak - you won't have to bias the tubes in your Masseto.

 

[Walter]

Telefunken never made any valves with the impossible numbers ECL94S and LCP86. The printing on the valves pictured is wrong : the "Made in Germany" on genuine Telefunken valves was on either side of the bottom of the lozenge. In the European valve numbering system a "9" in the first position indicates a 7-pin valve : you can't make a triode-pentode valve with only 7 pins. "LCP" is not a possible designation in the European system. Shindo are just overprinting who knows what valves.