Mystery of the whistling amplifier

I replaced the manufacturer-supplied low-power tubes (two 12AU7 in the pre-amp section; four 12AT7 in the amp section) in my VTL integrated amp with NOS Telefunkens from Vintage Tube Services. After a few months I started hearing hissing and whistling through the speakers. It happens regardless of the source (DAC or the phono preamp).  I read here and elsewhere that this was probably caused by about-to-fail preamp tubes. Here're the things I've tried to address this:

1.   I took the 12AU7s out and switched them between their sockets. I also reseated them in their original positions. These measures made the problem go away for a while. Then it came back.

2.  I put the manufacturer-supplied tubes (JJ Elec ECC81) back in, and that "solved" the problem for a day or two; then it didn't.

3.  A Youtube video recommended scraping the pins shiny with an x-Acto knife blade. I did this, and it worked for a while. Doing it again, perhaps more thoroughly, also worked for a while, and seems to have reduced the overall level of the sound. I also hit the pins with Deoxit after scraping.

I listen to this setup several hours a day. Sometimes, like right now, there's no unwanted noise. When it is happening, you can't hear it through loud passages at all. But of course I want to fix this.

I'd welcome any suggestions or diagnoses before bringing this to the dealer.