Amp suggestion

Fender Super Champ

Small enough for apartment practice....loud enough for small club gigs. Also a fan of the Roland Cube XL series.

used peavey classic 30

I'm not a big fan of the silver face Fenders, but that.s a pretty good deal and a better amp than you're going to find anywhere today for that money.

Match that with a strat and you'll have a nice small rig.

Just FYI, 35 watts is LOUD in an apartment. You need like a watt. Maybe less.

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I really do want a tube amp, but don't you have to crank those to get good tones out of them?

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You have to crank them to get "certain" tones out of them, not necessarily only good tones. You crank them to get some power tube distortion going. It gives the amp a nice and creamy chunk sound like on most classic rock records. You dont have to crank an amp to get a great sound though.

You can go one of two ways -
Option 1 - A clean lower wattage one channel amp like a Fender Blues Junior with a few high quality pedals to boost the preamp and for modulation. ebay - $300 Since you didnt list what kind of music youre playing, I would assume some variation of rock/blues. For the money, it's tough to beat the tone of these little Fenders and 15 watts is plenty loud enough for jam sessions. Great budget boost/OD pedal would be a WAY HUGE Green Rhino. They can be found for less than $70 used. If you learn how to use your guitar volume knob and have the amp set on about a mid dirt setting (master volume - 4-5, preamp volume - 5-6), you can go from SRV glassy cleans to Voodoo Child to Free's "All Night Long" with only one channel.

Option 2 - A two channel combo amp that has a dedicated clean and dirty channel. It's hard to get into this market at your price range and would prlly have to bump it to $400 or so, but a used Marshall DSL15C 12" is in that ballpark. Peavey Valveking 20C is in that price range. A used Orange Tiny Terror is in that price range used as well as a few older Boogie amps like the DC-30's and Subway series amps.

Option 1 seems like a better fit and would give you some great tones on a budget.

If you have a cab, or can get one, I'm about to clean out my "junk box" and build something with the parts. It's gonna be Fender 5F4-ish, I think. I'm mainly doing it to clear space, so the intention is to sell it as soon as it's done. I won't want much more out of it than what I have to put in to it, money wise, so if you're interested we might be able to work something out. It will probably be in the 300 dollar range or so.

Point to point, handwired, turret board, etc. Something to consider.