Shorting pins for balanced input?


Greetings,
My question is two fold. I have a BEZ Q3b preamp with balanced and rca outs. I use a Rawson alpeh J clone which also have balanced and rca ins. Recently I noticed a slight gain drop and thought it might have something to do with the shorting pins Tim included with the amp. Do they have to be used a certain way--pin 1 to 2 or 2 to 3--? The other thing I did was change the 5z4 tube. I don't know what did the change but now the gain is back to normal. Go figure. Great combo but I would like to know what made the difference since I did both changes at the same time. My guess is the tube. Thanks and enjoy the music.
south43
Rwwear,
I have used the balanced ins but wanted to know if there was a certain way the pins should be insetred when using the rcas. Probable a silly question but when you don't know you ask. Like I said all is well now.
When I had my old Krell Ksa-250 amp, if you used the single ended inputs, without inserting the shorting pins into the balanced inputs...you would get Hummmmm with your music.

Dave