looking for quality over quantity in an amp for live...

hey, i'm liking the idea of getting a small tube amp (30 watts?) and just miking it at big gigs, so that i can crank it without having to turn everything else up to match it and still get the good tube sound. i like the distortion on like a marshall AVT series kinda sound, i'm a sixties kinda ear with a eighties kind of style, for sound. i like higher gain, i like to do advanced soloing and stuff, so i want a good brand to get. i also like the sound of a mesa boogie rectifier (but who doesn't :)) so i want to figure out what kind to get within my budget. i don't want to spend really more than 500 at the most, but i'd like to hear about all sorts of stuff if possible. does mesa boogie's smaller stuff sound good?

thanks in advance guys

I think for factory stuff, its hard to beat a Fender Blues Junior. You might want to add a distortion or overdrive stompbox, but the amp on its own should cover what you're looking for. And there really isn't much difference in the loudness of a 15 Watt and a 50 Watt amp.

I hear, and read, good things about Pignose, but I haven't actually played one, so that's just hearsay.

A friend of mine had a little 30 watt Mesa that not only sounded great but was loud as hell (and the bane of soundmen everywhere).

thanks guys... i haven't been too fond of fender amps in the past, although i'll give that one a try... as for that mesa, do you know what model that one is or anything? i'd like an amp that i can use it's distortion on, not to limit out pedal effects, but i'd like to get as much out of this as possible. thanks again, i appreciate it.

also, i just checked the mesa boogie website, that one is a f-series i believe, an f-30. that sound right? and i was lookin at some pignoses in a musician's friend catalog, and i found the V40 and the V60. what do these sound like? i live in the boonies and rarely get to go to the shop to try these out, but i will when i do.

[Edited by fuhrysteve on 02-27-2002 at 05:47 PM]