I wanted to post the fact that there was a happy conclusion to this issue. I sent the kaput variac to Richard Brkich at Signature Sound. Rich is pretty familiar with the Joule amps and uses a pair himself. He researched my variac, got a new one(higher spec/capacity) from a great source for a great price. He then did the custom work on ensure that it would work perfectly in my application. I got the variac back in a timely fashion and there was always excellent communication and attention to detail along the way.
Independent of Rich's help, I bought 16 new power tubes as it became clear that I had some runaway current on at least one tube.
I'm not back in business with a wonderful sounding pair of amps that are very stable and the variac is prefect again.
I could not have hoped to work with a better technician/expert than Rich - he was a joy to deal with and I cannot recommend him highly enough if you ever need any work done or if you are in the market for new equipment. His advice and recommendations were thorough and super helpful and he was very generous with his time.
I'm back to a lot of happy listening now (exploring my new Tidal subscription and exploring more vinyl with a new Thor phono-stage as well). Happy listening!!
Independent of Rich's help, I bought 16 new power tubes as it became clear that I had some runaway current on at least one tube.
I'm not back in business with a wonderful sounding pair of amps that are very stable and the variac is prefect again.
I could not have hoped to work with a better technician/expert than Rich - he was a joy to deal with and I cannot recommend him highly enough if you ever need any work done or if you are in the market for new equipment. His advice and recommendations were thorough and super helpful and he was very generous with his time.
I'm back to a lot of happy listening now (exploring my new Tidal subscription and exploring more vinyl with a new Thor phono-stage as well). Happy listening!!