Tube amp repair recommendations - San Diego?

Stuogawa, I'm glad Mike worked out for you. I'm considering sending him an amp which no one out this way can help me with. It's a seventies vintage AEA A620 350wpc monster. I feel though if anyone could fix it he's the one. Thanks for the updates.

* Dropped off my Conrad Johnson PV 1 preamp to Mike about 3 weeks ago.

http://www.conradjohnson.com/It_just_sounds_right/a-PV1.html

* PV 1 stopped working.

* Mike had never worked on a PV 1 and did not have schematic.

* Traced problem to two main caps failing.

* Dropped PV 1 on a Monday and got it back that Thursday.

* All tube system (PV 1 and Dyna ST 70s) sounds tubey groovy!

* Again very reasonable repair cost and timely service.

* What I have begun to appreciate with Mike is that he will tell you right up front if he is too busy to accept more work. He is a one man shop and only accepts work that he can complete within what appears 2 weeks time. I have been fortunate because I am close by and can drop off my equipment if he finishes work up earlier.

* Started getting intermittent static discharge noises from the Dyna ST 70s. Occurs after about 15 to 30 minutes of warm up time.

* Issue characterized as if a build up of electricity is occurring and then intermittently discharges and sounds like a loose connector through the speaker.

* Spoke with Mike and his initial reaction was that the 7199 tubes were probably failing.

* I purchased a pair of NOS RCA 7199s from Tubesandmore.com

* Received and installed 7199s this week. Intermittant discharge still occurring.

* Swapped in my Audio Research SP 14 and Conrad Johnson PV 1 to test the Dyna ST 70s. Intermittant discharge still occurring.

* To ensure the Audio Research SP 14 and Conrad Johnson PV 1 were not introducing the discharge, I put the SP 14 and PV 1 in front of my Audio Research D115 solid state amp. No intermittent discharge occurring.

* Spoke with Mike today (9/5/09). He said drop them off this afternoon and let's solve the problem.

* Received call from Mike late afternoon 9/5/09.

* Problem identified and solved. No charge.

* Two ceramic capacitors intermittently failing. One for each channel.

* Mike stated in the 30 plus years of servicing Dyna ST70s, he has never seen these two capacitors fail. Typically the 7199 tubes begin failing and cause the intermittent noise 99% of the time. This was the last component he would have considered failing...it turned out that it was indeed that last components in the food chain to fail.

* I picked up amps the next morning. Played music through the amps for 12 hours a day / 5 days in a row. No issues.

* Mike stood behind his work and backed it up.

* Looks like I will be dropping of my Dyna PAS 3 preamps for a check up next.

I also wanted to share my experience with Mike. My mono amps started having issues and rather than sending them to the manufacturer I decided to give Mike a try in San Diego (I live in LA). I dropped them off on a Sunday and by Tuesday he called with his analysis. He even found two errors in the overall design of the amps and fixed those as well as a burned capacitor. He checked all solder points with a magnifying glass, tightened tube sockets, re-biased the amps, tested all tubes, and provides warranty on his work. He shipped the amps back to me and they are now singing better than ever before. VERY HIGHLY recommended.