[lesparapluies]

Thanks everyone for recent replies. I'm a bit stuck at the moment, having returned the possibly faulty cartridges to the supplier and waiting his verdict. Today I went for a bike ride and thought about ways round the problem. I've got a perfectly good deck, good amp and reasonable cabinet. I'd like to get it working in some shape or form without too much outlay, ideally using what I've already got in stock, and I thought of a couple of solutions; these may or may not be feasible, so any thoughts appreciated. Both involve boosting the gain of the amp so I can used a ceramic cartridge, more obtainable and cheaper, and I think I've got one or two lurking somewhere. OK, solution one would be to modify the circuit to use a single ECL82 as a 2-stage amp which I think would then have sufficient gain; I remember repairing a radiogram which used an ECL82 and a ceramic cartridge - but I have a feeling the existing output transformer (EL84) may not match? Possible solution no. 2 is a bit more far-fetched - to make a little transistor pre-amp circuit for the front end, perhaps a 2N3904, could power be taken from the 6.3V heater winding, bridge rectifier and smoothed to give about 9V.. or am I "getting into the realms of fantasy, Jones" as Captain Mainwaring might say? I can hear people saying "why bother?" and it's a valid point, but time is not an issue and it keeps me busy while my wife watches Strictly.