good as

Having successfully not permanently banjoed the wee amp by taking it to bits enough to WD40 the scratchy volume pots, I repeated the process with the big amp, with the effect of clarifying the main problem as being the channel-change switch, or possibly the socket for the footswitch at the rear, which can hopefully either be resolved by skooshing the switch and socket or just fishing my footswitch out of the loft and leaving it permanently attached. Whilst the small amp is tolerable when attached to my ageing but still fully-functional multi-effects unit, it sounds utter shite by itself, whereas the big amp is quite acceptable as long as the bass is turned right down, even though the replacement speaker was minced within a few weeks of being fitted by someone borrowing it at a gig and playing metal through it at full volume.