I have a 1968 Fender Vibrolux Reverb amp that I know is not performing to its full potential. I'm a bit frustrated and with my lack of knowledge and short patience, I'm tempted to begin replacing tubes and speakers and even thinking about selling it. But it's my first amp and I know that it can sound better than it does.

I need some help or some suggestions. I know that if I replace the tubes I will need to the bias the amp. I lack the electronic fortitude to do this and I'm also unaware as to how to go about it. But I want to learn! I can't seem to find much help in the way of images or walkthroughs that would help.

I also don't know what brand of tubes I should replace my current tubes with to still get the sultry blues tones out of the amp that I used to get. Here's my tube listing from left to right--
GZ34-6L6GC-6L6GC-12AT7-12AX7-7025-12AT7-7025

I've read recently that in the preamp arrangement that the 7025s and 12AX7s are interchangeable, but I'd like to get the best possible tone I can out of this amp! Recently one of the tubes has been pushing redhot and I burned my finger on it at band practice the other day. This has lead me to believe that I have a biasing issue and that one tube is pushing and the other is not pulling or pushing. I also believe that this is the reason for my decrease in tonal capacity.

If you have any suggestions I'd definitely take them to heart. I'm also having trouble finding a decent amp guru to take my stuff to. If anybody knows of or you live in the Fort Collins, CO area or surrounding areas, I'd be more than happy to swing by your shop for some help.

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.

-Jason