This is where push comes to shove!
I will cheerfully admit that I, too have some reservations about some of the claims made on the amptone site (you did read them, didn't you?), concerning the sound quality of an amp that can roll back the power of a 6L6 to a few milliwatts.
On the other hand, a lot of my favourite blues recordings were made with a mic'ed Fender Champ. (I really need for 'T-Bone Walker or Buddy Guy to step in here about now). True, a 5 Watt amp driven into power-tube saturation is going to be much too loud to play in an apartment, but it would actually be about right for a small club. And I know its got the sound I want.
The volume level is described as being about the same as a trumpet. I can relate to that; I used to play trumpet in several bands. You would [u]not[/u] want to live next door to someone who played a trumpet in their apartment at :eek: 3:00 AM!! But then, a 100 Watt amp could make anyone within a block-and-a-half unhappy.
I'm taking a bit of a chance by starting out with a 6AQ5A instead of a full-size 6V6, but then the specs are nearly identical. I'm betting the only difference is that some early amp maker used a 6V6 for same reason I'm using a 6AQ5A. It was [u]there![/u]