re: Amp suggestion

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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.