SWDPitViper

I have owned and played a Carvin x60b Half-Stack in the past, and recently have been using older Fender Hot Rod Deluxes (one with the Frommel mod) for size and portability. I stumbled over a Crate V50 for cheap on CraigsList ($100) and thought "what the hell" ... it is now my go-to amp for recording and rehearsal ... a little heavy to haul for gigs so I still use a Hot Rod there, but the Crate has well defined tone, is less noisy than the fenders (even the modded fender) and has a nice smooth drive channel as well. I use pedals for FX and Distortion, so the drive channel is only for emergencies, but I like the sound enough to use it if I have to. I'd have to say that the V50 is right up there with lower end boutique amps. I am currently having an amp hand-built to my specifications (baseline around the Fender Champ circuitry), and should have it in a week, so it will be interesting to see how a $1,500 hand wired boutique amp stacks up to the V50. I suspect it will be my boutique amp and the V50 that survive, and my Hot Rods will be on the trading block.