Preamp Deal of the Century

I heard back from Mick. He says he is sorry about the color mix-up, but in his humble opinion wood looks better anyhow and that I should not worry about the socket being a bit loose..... Hmmm. I guess we are all blessed to be able to buy from him. I have to consider my next move, maybe a PayPal dispute will wake him up. 

@deutscherhififan 

Is the 300B socket loose in the chassis or is the tube wobbly in the socket as if the pins are too small? If the later that's a simple adjustment.

It's both. Right side is perfectly fine and tight, left side has a loose socket (I am sure I can tighten that), but the tube wobbles in the socket.

If you swapped the tubes from side to side to determine they both have the same size pins and they both wobble in that socket then you can tighten the socket's grip with just a jewelers screwdriver.  Many vids on You Tube of how to do it.  Usually doesn't need to be done for years with a tube swapper but I guess they can be loose out of the box.  

http://www.swartamps.com/tech/socket_retention/

I retrieved that photo from Mick's blog. I have one new in the box (line stage) but have noi had time to pull it out to set it up or I would have taken a photo of mine.