Help! Recommend a boutique-ish combo.

VoidTerraFirma

Live to wine
Thinking a burning a little EOY bonus cash on a spiffy combo.

Must be...

1) dirty/clean versatile
2) aesthetically appealing
3) suitable for eliciting compliments from guitar forum nerds in various east coast barns
4) priced under/near $2000

Hit me with your best shot, Weiners!
 
Would prefer two channels but I'm not inflexible on that.

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https://reverb.com/item/555721-mesa-boogie-express-plus-5-50-50w-1x12-tube-combo-amp
 
Redplate Magica
Brunetti Pleximan
Orange Rockerverb 50
Hughes and Kettner Grandmeister 40
Friedman Runt

Some will need to be used to get to your price point.
 
Splawn Street Rod... 40 watts, two channels (with solo boost on OD channel) *lots* of tonal options on the OD channel (three "gears" and OD1/OD2 for each gear) loop volume control acts as a master volume... great tones available at lower volumes.

It's under 2K. I love mine!

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I absolutely love my Mesa Rectoverb 25. Two channels with separate EQ and reverb settings for each... plus there's a power switch if you want to knock either channel down to crank it and get more compression while the other channel keeps headroom. I think it was $1400 with the custom tolex.

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Live I only turn it up about 1/3rd to 1/2 the way and then mic it.

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This demo is the head and cab, but they sound extremely similar (closed back vs open back).
 
Got an e mail from Sweetwater. Looked at their amps starting at the most $$$ and worked down. Some random thoughts that will be of no help to you: 1) didn't know Wampler made amps. 2) They probably call the Leslie Studio the studio because it weighs 100 pounds and who would want to move that.
 
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...5tZHYmcw8FdD6GO2AUdZH3fk7KXLGgsRoC_VUQAvD_BwE
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https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/6505PlusM212

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It's not as much of a combo as it is a combination.

Don't let the fact that is an EVH product fool you into thinking that it does only EVH tones or just metal.

The green channel is sparkly clean, if you set it that way (and that's usually everybody's mistake).

The blue channel has plenty of classic rock crunch up 'til 10 o'clock on the gain. Honestly, even for EVH, it doesn't have to go past that. Most people dime it and that's just wrong.

The red channel is pure fire.

There's a resonance control on the back. For more classic tones, keep this below noon. For more modern stuff, turn it up to taste. The presence also seems to go beyond your normal presence, where dimed on a Marshall is closer to 3 o'clock.

The thing that impressed me when I tried this exact combination was how dynamic it was. If I dug in moderately (not even beating the strings) on the blue channel it was saturated and singing. If I picked lightly it was barely crunchy. Gentle fingerstyle was clean. However, it didn't lose appreciable volume when doing so. It was really responsive to the guitar's volume control.

I do a lot of styles from bluesy stuff to classic rock to metal and this would cover it all. I could use this in my '80s-influenced synth rock band. I could use this for my Danzig project. I could get some jazzy sounds out of the clean channel if I wanted. Even as an EVH freak I was surprised by the versatility of this setup.
 
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