Hah! Good luck Tarraga...hopefully the knowledge experience and good will...will prevail and your ring will be sorted out. Good luck...and remember - sometimes when you tap on output tubes...be careful. If the tube is causing a problem even the gentlest tap will be quite loud thru your speakers. On the other hand, if not, a gentle tap should not result in any noise coming thru. If you use a pencil, use the eraser part...you dont need to tap with the wooden/lead part at all.