Preamp Deal of the Century

Hello people...

I hope this thread isn't 'over'.

I have Chenin but having some problems. This is the original MK1.

The sound is very lean and the bass is very rolled-off. The whole bottom octave seems MIA and it's that which I'm sure creates the leanness through the frequ.

I've tried a few different tubes....Mullard in the PS, Tungsol, EH, then Golden Lion KT66 and Sovtek KT66.

Nothing I change really makes a different to the bass.

I've tried all combinations on the gain set. Actually, even with gain set to low/low there is rather too much gain, but I have vol control on CD to compensate...but this gain not making different to bass.

If anyone have any suggestion please help!

I have a cheaper SS Pre handy and it sounds deep, warm, good tuneful bass. Not the 3D of supratek but much much more warm and musical satisfy.

http://supratekaudio.blogspot.com/

I bought this unit from Mick in 2009. Within a year the tubes on my left side failed. I replaced all of them with similar tubes and yet again it failed. After emailing Mick, he asked me to measure some voltage in the socket pin and it was off by about 1V.

Mick was helpful to provide the correct value for the resistor and my friend soldered it for me. and I was a happy customer till last month.

Now, there is some crackling noise on the right side. mick mentioned that the pots could be dirty and need to be cleaned by rotating. The problem with this is I couldn't find any pots in the preamp. After sending the photographs of the circuit to Mick he told me that it was the previous model without pots. The only option available to me is to send to a technician and asked for circuit diagram which he said he would send me.

Unfortunately, he didn't send nor responding to my email. What should I do? Anyone here with Chardonnay schematics? The only part looks damaged is the big white colour caps? If they are caps can someone suggest a replacement?

Thank you.

Good news! Mick contacted me yesterday and hope I could get it sorted out soon.

Just to note, I'm putting up my Syrah for sale in the next few days if anyone is interested in it. It's still a gem of a full-function pre. I moved to Doshi linestage & Thor phono.