I think we have a winner. 20 hours playing linestage straight with new phono tubes - no blown fuses, power supply has less hum . Sounds great.
No idea whether remote for volume is a clip or soldered wire ...anyone know? I'm not going to crack it open as it isn't intuitive as the case has screws all over it. My guess is remote volume wire got loose somehow.
Anyway I think the main issue is fixed.
. I can now focus more on the music.
And the reason I was working so diligently with this is because it sounds so damn good!!