Amp Recs: Fender Champion vs. Marshall CODE

I have the Fender Champion 100, been playing it several times a week for over a year. Clean tones are superb, as close to a Twin as I've ever heard with a solid state amp. The on-board effects are pretty good, but the overdrive can get a bit "fizzy" for my taste. I prefer the "Blackface" settings with a Danelectro Pride of Texas pedal for more drive. It's surprsingly powerful, with a ton of headdroom.
I've played around with a Code a couple of times, it just seemed pretty thin sounding. I couldn't crank it, maybe it's better with more volume.
ETA...I played a Code combo, I'm sure the head/cab is much better.

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Marshall CODE 100 head (100w) - $400
w/ Marshall CODE 412 4x12 cab (120w) - $300

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I just bought these a few weeks ago. The head was only $350 from Sweetwater. My previous setup was a 130W Peavey head with 2 4x12 cabinets. I originally wanted a full stack for the Marshall, but apparently it's only made to be played with 1 cabinet. So far I have around 20 custom presets that I found online for some of my favorite songs (stuff from Metallica, AC/DC. Judas Priest, etc.). I don't know anything about the Fender you're looking at, but what makes the Marshall Code awesome is the variety of tools online, through bluetooth, etc. I also bought the additional footswitch for $65 that lets you store 30 presets in it (as opposed to the one it comes with that just lets you scroll up or down through the presets).

I used both my.marshall.com and especially marshallcode.tools to download custom presets. You have to sort through them because some that people have created don't sound like what they are supposed to, but it just takes a few seconds to try them out on your amp before you decide whether or not to save it. Some of the custom presets are really good though. And of course there are the 100 presets that come loaded in the amp already, or you can create your own, or you can tweak any of them to improve them.

I don't play with a band, I just play by myself in my gameroom (which is a converted double garage). The amp cranks for damn sure. There is a master volume and a volume for within the presets. If I crank it to 4 it will blow me out the room. Plenty power and likes to be cranked - it can sound thin or "hollow" at very low volume, but if you crank it to decent volume it has very full sound. My only complaint is that the the sound with the single cabinet is "directional". I'll try to explain what I mean. With my old Peavey with the full stack, it seemed like the sound was the same pretty much anywhere in the room when I moved around. With the Marshall, the true tone and sound has a sweet spot at a certain distance directly in front of the cabinet (actually 2 sweet spots at 2 separate distances since the bottom speakers are angled). If you step to the side a few feet, it sounds muffled compared to standing in line with the speakers. Same if you are too close or too far. My amp is positioned diagonally, and if I go stand on the other side of the room, then it actually sounds fuller because the sound deflects off a wall over 20 feet away then bounces back to the other half of the room and spreads out more.

Regarding Sweetwater, shipping was even a couple days quicker than it was supposed to be (and shipping was free when I ordered around Christmas). My speaker cabinet had some slight damage to it on arrival. They actually sent a new one right away and only asked that I return the old one within 14 days after the new one arrived. They didn't force me to be without my cabinet at all and sent a prepaid shipping label for the return. The amp had no issues and I bought 2 guitars that also arrived without issues.

If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer.

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I think I’d be paying double for the Marshall name - is it justified?

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Personally I find the Marshall to be incredibly cheap for the amazing things and the variety that it can do.

You may want to check this amp out.

Bugera V22 all tube amp. Great sounding amp, and it will keep up with a pretty loud drummer as well.

Bugera V22

A 22 watt tube amp can get pretty damn loud, and have tons more headroom than a solid state amp.

You can definitely gig clubs with this amp.

You can get a really good used tube amp for 700 bucks.