Here are some photos of a re-wire of a Fender amp that replaced the circuit board with an eyelet board.
http://www.naturdoctor.com/Chapters/Rodgers/ReWire.html
In this case, the amp had been repaired several times in the last year, which annoyed the owner. He had several older eyelet board amps that hardly ever needed repair, and when they did they were fixed quickly.
>> How will the 12AT7 change it?
The AT7 has slightly lower gain but delivers a lot more current, which makes it a great choice for a phase inverter. The sound and breakup are different.
>> I adjusted it by ear and liked 73 a little better
Slightly higher bias reduces crossover distortion, which makes the amp sound better clean and breakup earlier at the expense of tube life.
>> What speaker would you recommend
There are tons of choices!
My personal favorites are EV SRO (weighs a ton!) and Jensen P12R (for shimmering highs).