This has become a virtual odyssey in a tube audio kind of way. Of course we learn best from failure, or a least learn for much longer, hence odyssey. So let's commence shall we?
Since my last update, I have ...
tried plugging it into a different source and pre-amp, no joy.
re-routed and twisted the driver tube heater wires for the 4th time.
identified the 6.4V center tap, built a voltage divider and lifted the heater circuit about 50vdc. I immediately thought that had caused the wire to the on/off switch to start smoking and melting. So I fixed the overheated wires, checked over every inch of the lift divider circuit, though one solder joint seemed a little wonky and reflowed it, everything else checked good, so tried it again, hot wires. At this point I knew what I had to do, I cut out the whole lift voltage divider circuit, the way god had intended it by the way, turned it back on, the heater wires to the output tubes start smoking. As it turns out clear back at the start I chose to use some questionable radioshack solid wire with plastic insulation (I hate that stuff by the way) and two heater wires had shorted at one of the tight twists, likely due to a passing hot solder iron, because I didn't feel the output tubes were causing the issue and the wiring on some of them was really nicely done, and I get tired of rewiring tube sockets, you know I hadn't changed all of them. So now I have, I used expensive teflon oxygen free Kimber stranded wire @ some god awful amount /ft, because thats all I had. I live in a little town in the middle of no where. I have put everything back together, cleaned it all up and guess what? Yep 60hz HUM. You didn't think I was going to say it was quiet did you? How would that be an odyssey?
So, it is sitting next to me on the dining room table playing white noise into my test speakers at full volume while I think, and type this out for you as a warning. I can't hear the HUM over the white noise at full volume. Hey is that a valid repair?
Next I will try ...
1. Humdinger pot.
2. Trash can.