When I was playing through it yesterday I noticed that the pre-amp overdrive had taken on a fuzzy, glitchy quality. which did sound very cool but as valve amps are supposed to give you nice, warm, smooth sounds was probably cause for concern.
One quick consultation with Mr. Foxen later and it's probable that at least one of the pre-amp valves is dying. Luckily the Harley Benton GA5 head takes the same type of pre-amp valve (12AX7) so I have an easily accessable test rig for checking the valves.
So that's what I do... a quick check of each valve in the GA5's pre-amp to see if they're all working fine. And they are. Which is puzzling, so I put them back in the Roadmaster, connect it all up, and switch it on; nice valve-y overdrive soon gives way to glitchy fuzz. There's definitely something wrong here, but I'm puzzled as to what exactly. Perhaps I need to push them harder in the GA5, which would be easier if it were a master volume amp. As it was I had the volume maxed but as I have neighbours I can't really spend ages bashing away because through a 4x12 cab even a 5 watt amp is pretty damned loud.
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