Help with Kit88

[lovejoy]

Hello all,
I've been lurking on the forum for a little while having been interested in taking the plunge into valves for some years. In the last few weeks I managed to pick up a pre-built (but not from WAD) Kit88 from Ebay for what seemed like a pretty good price and having met the seller and made the transaction and got home with my purchase, I settled down for some music. All was well apart from a few odd little pops whilst the amp warmed up. Overall though it sounded excellent and the next few nights were spent rediscovering my vinyl and CD collection.

I realised that when I switched the amp on, one of the ECC82s was glowing brightly for the first few seconds before calming down, so I decided to swap the ECC82s around to see if the fault followed the valve or whether I had a problem internally. Sure enough, the fault followed the valve so I decided a replacement ECC82 would be all that was needed. But then 20 seconds later, the KT88 on the left channel (the one that now didn't have the overly-bright ECC82) started arcing bright purple. Off it went straight away and I was quite sure there was some smoke from the amp.

This was where the alarm bells started ringing as taking out two of the KT88s (the one that popped and its partner) it turned out that they didn't match. One is a Sovtek, the other unbranded. The alarm bells started to ring further having got in touch with the seller to ask if this had been a recurring problem and receiving no reply.

Tonight, I get the amp on the bench for a better look and find:
1. Rounded and non matching screws in the base, suggesting this amp has been opened on a good few occasions, unless someone's not very good with screwdrivers.
2. Some pretty poor soldering work, including lifted track and wires that have had their insulation melted through.
3. Having downloaded the original build documents, the mains fuse that's supposed to be 1.6A is only 630mA, which seems rather odd, and a bit worrying.
4. Some of the high wattage resistors are too close to the board and the board has blackened.

It looks as if R1 has fried, so this may be what burnt out when the valve went pop.

I might be worrying over nothing much more than a KT88 having gone pop and taking the resistors with it, but now having seen inside I'm a bit more concerned that other things are amiss.

Is there anyone here who knows their way around one of these things that could offer some advice, or would be willing to give it a looking over. Happy to travel and pay for your time.

Or does it sound like I've been had?

Rich