Help/Major Problem

You may have somehow triggered the thermals on the Aleph 3. Since it's class A, you no doubt have noted that it always runs hot. This may have inhibited a thermal reset. Try turning it off, letting it cool, then trying again. Good luck!

Make sure that both rear power connectors are properly seated. And if you own headphones, you could try them in the headphone jack -- if the phones work properly then most likely the problem is not in the preamp.

If you have a voltmeter with a fine enough scale to read the output voltages on both the preamp and amp, and a cd with a sine wave test tone, you can play the cd, then step the gain switch on the pre, and measure the right channel output, then the left channel output voltage from the preamp, then the same outputs from the amp. Each set should step in a reasonably linear fashion. That should allow you to distinguish the amp from the pre. It also helps if you know what the full scale output voltages in each case should be.

David, check you cables carefully, make sure the barrel is tight around the female (the ground). I got nothing but a hum from my right channel on 2 different occasions. Both times I enjoyed extended play the night before. First time I rearranged the tubes in my pre and wallaa, it worked. Then a month later it happened again and I jiggled all of my ic's and narrowed it down to my right channel ic to the amp, the locking barrel was not securely fastened so the right channel was not grounded, had nothing to do with the tubes in the pre. It's probably something simple. Good luck and during the panic stage try to remember this too will pass! And breathe into a sack constantly.

David,

I agree with Pops. I had the exact problem. I even went as far as taking my pre to my local guy who's been repairing my stereo stuff for years.
After charging me $35 for a cleaning job, he informed me that there was really nothing technically wrong with the pre.
Take all cables off and put them back on. I had a loose interconnect. Hopefully your problem is as simple.
Good Luck.