Well, after sorting everything out with my heater supply, I now have an issue with one socket when using NOS tubes.
Everything works fine with the EHX tubes, but the front tube socket does not work with any of my NOS tubes. I can gently rock the tube and put some pressure and get the heaters to start drawing current, but it doesn't stay, so I immediately have to shut down. I have tried 4 different NOS sets: Matsu, two Tele sets and RCA.
Problem is, these sockets don't look as accessible to re-tension as other sockets I have used. There is no access to the pin grabbers from the bottom side and the top holes that the pins sit in are very small. Maybe I could do it with a small dental pick, but it doesn't look like I can get behind any of the metal to push in.
I can't use any socket savers because of the metal shield base.
I'm very frustrated.
Any ideas other than pulling it out and replacing it?