I needed a new input selector knob on my MF Nuvista M3 amp and a new CD tray on my MF Nuvista 3D CD player, and decided to take the opportunity of having John make a few upgrades to both. A few years earlier, while an employee at MF, John had kindly built me a custom turntable line-level input board for the M3 amp (as standard, the amp came with a MM input), so I knew he was the man for the job.
I dropped-off my beloved equipment and picked-up John’s loan amp. He fitted bigger capacitors, better quality phono and speaker connector blocks, better quality umbilical cables etc. “The way it should have been made” – his words – and he should know. Not cheap but then quality never is.
I drove-over a week later, picked-up my kit, got home and gave everything a good burn-in. Everything was great for a while but then a hissing sound appeared. John suspected the Nuvista valves were on their way out and voluntered to drive from Croydon to Reading and replace them (he didn’t think it fair that I drive all that way again). No charge.
Fixed. Perfect. What a sound. An improvement on the stock M3 and 3D would have been difficult but John achieved it.
What a service. John Sampson is a genius and a gentleman.