I ended up tracing the noise to the transistors near the inputs, replaced them with new ones, and the squealing noises seem to be gone. i might end up replacing the rest of the transistors anyway just to keep everything fresh. As far as the distortion from the speaker, I took the speaker out and manipulated the cone a bit until the distortion went away. Seems to be holding up, but I think I will look into getting a new speaker anyway.