BTW, appros of nothing, I see Monoprice (the bestest place to get cheap, good quality cables) is selling tube amps now. This one appears to be a 5-watt Fender Champ 600 clone with an 8" Celestion speaker. Currently out of stock, but sells for $112!! Too bad I just bought an real Champ 600 for $150 (on sale from $200) 
If I read your OP properly, you’ve got an ampeg head that’s failing and a 2x12 twin reverb sized cabinet. Do I understand properly, then, you’ve got two units then, the head and a speaker cabinet? If so, why not look around for a 1x12 or 1x10 combo amp you like the sound and features of that, when needed, you can plug into the 2x12 cabinet?
Acoustic head, but otherwise correct. I’m actually looking for a 1 x 12 combo tube with some guts. The cabinet I have is fine, but frankly I’m looking for an amp I can carry with one hand, my guitar in the other, gig bag over my shoulder. Tired of schlepping a lot of stuff to go to a jam. One trip from the car, that’s the objective. 
I am going to have to look into Blackstar…thanks for the additional responses.
Wait? You’re looking for a combo you can play a show with? I thought you were looking for a head to power that cab! 
Ok, I’ll look at combos. Does it have to be able keep up with a drum set at clean volumes?
I have a Blackstar HT5RH that I bought for small jam sessions, and I’ve frankly been disappointed in it. Uninspiring clean channel, dirt channel is great but even on gain=2 is very very gain-y. There’s a great amp in there, but it needs a more flexible middle range between Hard Rawk and utter clean IMO. I didn’t care much for the lauded digital reverb either, but I’m a spring reverb throwback. I plan to get rid of this head - any takers?
Too tipsy to reply intelligently this evening; marking the thread for reading and input tomorrow.
Yes, that would be ideal.
I’ve been in gigging/recording bands for most of the last 25 years. While I’ve been primarily a Mesa/Boogie devotee for those years, I’ve owned and used quite a few other amps. Here are a couple of suggestions for versatile combos that are portable, yet can keep up with a drummer easily. I have firsthand experience with all of them. While they go for $600-700 new, all are available for under $500 (sometimes well under) all day long on the used market.
- Peavey Classic 30. Very Fender-ish cleans, along the lines of Fender’s Hot Rod Deluxe or Hot Rod DeVille, but a better crunch channel IMO than either of those.
- Marshall DSL40C. Speaking as someone who is not usually a huge Marshall fan, these things are awesome. My brother used one for years, through a succession of different bands, and the clean and crunch sounds are both excellent. They have a native brightness that can be dialed out very effectively; its EQ controls are well-designed.
- Blackstar HT Club 40. This one actually has some fire-breathing distortion under the hood, but the clean channel is shockingly good. For a classic rock gig, you could probably get by on that channel alone, goosing it with an overdrive or fuzz when it’s time to rock. Highly recommended.
I hope that helps!
I came in to mention the Classic 30. Simple, rugged and good tones. No idea of their production status or price on the new or used market. I thought they had been discontinued, but remained popular. Used to be a great deal.
I’d revisit the Blues Jr. and try to understand how tweakable the brightness you hear can be - by further knob-twiddling (is your Strat bridge pickup hooked up to a tone control? Is that the tone you found too bright?), or by simple adjustments like a speaker change…? If you can get the basic tone profiles for clean and crunchy to your liking, they are really versatile, carry-able simple and rugged amps that take pedals well.
They’re currently in production and available new, but why would you? They’re built like tanks and plentiful on the used market.
I also second your endorsement of giving the Blues Jr. a second try. With the “fat” switch on, I found that thing to roar rather than scream. A single channel and 15 watts would give me slight pause in the “clean volume to keep up with a drummer” department. The logical next step would be Fender’s Hot Rod Deluxe, which has 40 watts and 2 channels, but…I just really don’t like those amps very much.
There’s a guy online that goes by ‘BillM’ that sells a ton of easy Blues Jr. mods. For not much money and a little bit of time you can rework the tone stack, the biasing and a bunch of other things that improve/alter the tone a ton. I can’t remember which specific mod addressed the bass, but you could go from what is described online as ‘farty’ to a nice clean thump. Some soldering required.
OneCentStamp, I will definitely look into those. Thanks very much (I’m especially intrigued by the Marshall, based on your description–I’m not usually a Marshall guy).
WordMan, some further tweaking of guitar / amp is probably in order re: the Blues Jr., now that you mention it. I’ll give a try at the next jam at my buddy’s place, and hopefully I can find find what I’m looking for that won’t be too limiting (meaning, there’s a range I like, but it’s pretty narrow). Good advice.
Pork Rind, you sound like the buddy I mentioned. He is a definite tinkerer, of the pick-up replacing, speaker-altering, tube-changing variety (not that I’d have to do the work myself). I’m not opposed to it, but I would prefer something that fits the bill as is. But definitely a viable option.
Take a few minutes to look at review videos on YouTube - they range from pro-shot studio breakdowns by Guitar Center, all the way down to cell phone videos shot in someone’s living room (which are often better indicators of how an amp sounds “in the room”).
When you do, try plugging an overdrive pedal into the BluesJr, but with the pedal output level pretty high and the dirt really low. Just warm the incoming signal a little but give it a boost to punish the amp input stage a little. If it gets too hot, turn down the guitar not the pedal or amp gain.
I am now sad.
I was gonna suggest a B-52 AT-212. I have one and love the thing. Great tones, kinda Mesa-y and relatively inexpensive with a good build. In fact I like my B-52 more than the last couple Boogies I played*.
However it appears they don’t make them any more. If my amp dies I am gonna be really bummed as I can’t get another 
Slee
Youtube is my first stop to check out equipment (if I haven’t firsthand). This thread has sent me there a bunch!
squeegee, I will give that a try. Thanks.
I’m not always that way; I see huge value in getting what works for you now, out of the box. But in my case, I came across a used Blues Jr for dirt cheap that someone had already done a speaker swap. So it was a chance to get something really cool for <$200.
And when I was done, I loved that amp. Fifteen watts was too much for our little house, and I didn’t like what the attenuator did to the whole package, so I sold it for what I had into and kept looking.
I can’t recall: have you stated what you have? Did you get a Carr Mercury or something?
I have an Ampeg SVT head (bass amp) in the barn. The one with six 6550 tubes. I think it was made in the 1970s. Bought it from some guy in 1984. I last turned it on 20 years ago. Not sure if it still works.
Yeah, I got the 1 watt Blackstar combo. Been pretty pleased with it, especially the dirty end of the clean channel. The dirty channel goes to shred a little too quickly for my taste, but there’s still some nice tone in there if you mess with the guitar volume. My ASAT with the Seth Lover in the neck does some nice stuff in that range in particular.