Well, since this thread has popped up again, I should take the opportunity to update my above post. I finally talked at length with Luke Manley, and although he was cordial, he was not, let's say, the most forthcoming individual in his position I have ever spoken with at a comparable company. VTL's basic position seems to be, "Send us the amps, then we'll tell you what we think." Since I lack the original cartons, and live clear across the country, this is not what I hoping to hear first. He was grudging, at best, about offering any advice that could help me get the amps up and running again, wanting me to just send them to the factory. Since I hadn't yet properly auditioned them, I was, I think, understandably dissatisfied with this approach, not wanting to make a further large investment before getting a chance to really hear the things, so I declined his invitation.
My MB-185's happen to have been strangely modified by their first owner; he had someone (or himself, I really don't know) defeat their Triode/Tetrode switches, leaving them in permanent tetrode mode, with the switches removed and missing. Although I'm sure I would run them in this mode anyway, I would like to be able to restore the switches locally, just for originality's sake. VTL will give me absolutely NO assistance in accomplishing this, even (especially?) if I offer to purchase the new switches and/or diagrams from them. "Send them to us" is all I can get, at around $300 round-trip shipping, plus $120 for new cartons first, not including the actual repair and parts, and I'm sure many weeks of no amps. Most companies in my experience will sell parts and schematics no problem if needed; not VTL!
On a more positive note, I have installed 1.5a fuses in the 250v receptacles, along with doing a complete re-tube, and haven't had any more problems with shut-downs, and the amps now sound improved.
My MB-185's happen to have been strangely modified by their first owner; he had someone (or himself, I really don't know) defeat their Triode/Tetrode switches, leaving them in permanent tetrode mode, with the switches removed and missing. Although I'm sure I would run them in this mode anyway, I would like to be able to restore the switches locally, just for originality's sake. VTL will give me absolutely NO assistance in accomplishing this, even (especially?) if I offer to purchase the new switches and/or diagrams from them. "Send them to us" is all I can get, at around $300 round-trip shipping, plus $120 for new cartons first, not including the actual repair and parts, and I'm sure many weeks of no amps. Most companies in my experience will sell parts and schematics no problem if needed; not VTL!
On a more positive note, I have installed 1.5a fuses in the 250v receptacles, along with doing a complete re-tube, and haven't had any more problems with shut-downs, and the amps now sound improved.