[TV MAN]

I pronounce it fixed. I replaced the rest of the e caps, put back together and found some of the cracking static came back until it warmed up. I pulled both boards and resoldered a bunch of suspicious looking connections. I put back together kinda loose to be able to flex things and pull again and had no sound at all! Huh ... so after some messing around I found flexing the board made the sound (and static) come and go and could see the output tubes flash inside (not sparking, you know -the look inside when the tubes are handling current). Well, I discovered the outputs were grounded through the screws and stand-offs that hold the octal tube sockets to the metal chassis! So, I went back and cleaned and tightened those screws very tight - quiet as a church mouse! So, if anyone has one of these amps with static/cracking noises and cleaning controls and replacing tubes doesnt completely quiet it, clean those studs or solder a ground to those to chassis ground. I still have a very light, low level hum, but I think it is the nature of the beast for the most part. It's not really HiFi, so it may not be completely quiet like a Fisher or Dyna.