[vintage_8bit]

I have now got it all back together. It sounds quite good, with the lid closed. Voice seems a bit too prominent, but the base is reasonably punchy. I'm playing just 45's. Distortion I can here is acceptable to me with these old records.

I did try adjusting the feedback with no improvement. I found placing a couple hundred pF across the input gave a slight improvement but I left the amp as original.

I also looked at the cartridge output on a scope whilst playing a record. I then injected a 1kHz sinewave of around twice the output I saw from the record playing. The output at the speaker still showed no sign of distortion. So I don't think the amp is being over-driven. The amp also sounds good if an external signal is applied.

So I think it's as good as it will be with the cartridge fitted, which is now tracking at 6 grams. Colin