The trim pots in the Herron might alter plate resistance on the input voltage amplifier tubes, which would affect gain. In my opinion most audiophiles would get in trouble fiddling with such a parameter. Or they may operate in some other way. Regardless, Atmasphere said all that needs to be said, to help the OP. I hope he is following the advice already given.
Balance control?
I’m running an analog exclusive rig and feel like I’ve been dealing with a channel imbalance for awhile now. I’ve tried trouble shooting this every single way I can think of. The cartridge is set up correctly, checked tubes, etc. My question is: am I obsessing over finding the root cause or should I just cave and use the balance control on my integrated? I feel like it would be ideal to find the cause and not use the balance control. Dose using the balance control introduce anything into the signal? Ugh.