How to track down bad tube and what can it mean?


I recently changed the tubes in my preamp and all but the driver tubes on my amp, but these tubes didn't work out. I replaced these with the stock tubes which had been good before. Now I get distortion from the left channel which sounds like a buzzing that comes and goes with the music. It increases with the volume. I've checked all the tubes and they are placed OK. At one point with the volume loud but not too loud the system turned itself off which had never happened before. My speakers are efficient and it was not putting out more than 10 wats max when this happend.

So how can I track down a bad tube if I have one? I suppose I could replace the tubes one by one with the new ones I tried, but this is extremely tedious and makes me dream of SS. Any idea what this problem, this sound indicates?

Any help is appreciated. My sick system depresses me. Thanks.
budrew
OK, I can admit human error : ) Having figured out the trouble I put the NOS 12AX7s back in the preamp and also a pair of the EH 12AT7s. This rounded off some of the gritty edges and I'm back to captivating tube bliss : ) So nice! I'm happy.
I don't think my local ARC dealer's service dept. would have figured out the ficus tree syndrome! Glad you found the source of your woes.
If you ever get a chance to try a pair of Mullard 12AT7 tubes you will find some improvement in bass on the 2102.