Well, don't know if my' tuneup tips' would work for this example but maybe I should add my thoughts on it. I digress..

It was a dark and stormy afternoon as I sat pondering one of my treasured tube powered delites that reside here in the Fortress of Tone. It was a small amplifier manufactured in the United Kingdom ca. 1965. I had just lit it up for a little rainy day noodlin and it sounded like poop. It had not been that long ago I had freshened up it's tubes with a nice new set and at that time it shook like the 'CENTRAL' and rolled like the 'L&N'!!

For the life of me I couldn't figure what could possibly have happened in the interim. And I don't know what goes on in the interim because I don't even know what an interim is but something was going on in there and I needed to know what it was.

After much consideration and mathematical extrapolation along with a good dose of seismographic divination, I picked up a screwdriver.

I methodically proceeded to tighten every screw, nut and bolt on the amp. And in the case of the speaker,,,torqued it like an automobiles wheel. You know, the star pattern thing. Not too tite, just firm. After this process was completed I lit it up again not really expecting anything but I had done something. Something that upon the doing ,became obvious that it needed to be done! Because just about everything I touched was loose! In some cases..REAL loose. The speaker and baffle being the most glaringly loose . Well , much to my surprise the amplifier sounded MUCH better. Waaaay much better. Like everything was in sonic unison. And for lack of a better word,,,it sounded tight.

So maybe the old saying should be...Boredom is the Mother of Invention. That's it. Not that other one, what..necessity? Something like that. So, check out that old tone generator and do the Tighten Up on it and see if it doesn't help out. Hey, it couldn't hurt!

As to the photo at the top of the page...I'm not sure if all the tightening in the world would help that poor thing. One thing I am pretty certain of however is that a nice shampoo and maybe a perm would at least make it more presentable. First impressions and all that...

Thanks and may the tone you seek, be your own.