I did a gig(soundguy) a few years ago with a guy known for his clean tone and was astonished to find his amp of choice was a Fender tube amp, either a deluxe or twin I can’t remember which. After soundcheck I just had to ask, so I did…
Me: " I expected you to use a solid state amp like a JC-120 or 60"
Artist " I used to use solid state amps but I did a record with a guy and he taught me that a tube amp can make any tone you wish and I have never looked back"
Artist was Nile Rodgers and he was talking about Stevie Ray Vaughn.
The point is IMHO a tube amp is flexible and will let you explore a bunch of different tonalities. You don’t have to spend a fortune, something like a Fender Blues Junior will do the trick quite well, but be careful you might get hooked and want one of these.
Bass wise, there are a ton of small class d bass amps around, I personally would buy a Genz-Benz Shuttle for the reason that the DI outs always work and I mean always. I toured with a band for three years with four GB amps on stage, used the DI outs every night, never has a buzz I couldn’t fix with the ground lift switch. Small clubs, giant festivals, US, Canada and Europe.
Yep and they will get nice and gritty too. IMO you just can’t get the versatility of tone out of a solid state that you can get with almost any tube amp, well until you get into the really powerful tube amps.
Take a look at the Fender Rumble 30. Have a look on kijiji or local music shops for second hand gear, you can go for a little better quality and save some money. Take your axe and try it out to see if you like the sound. The nice thing with solid state amps is they are relatively bulletproof compared to a tube amp.
Missed the edit window:
Now having said that I built my own version of a tele (72 thinline with Bigsby vibrato) and ended up with a GenzBenz Black Pearl 30 tube head and 2x12 cab ($530) for home use. It’s plenty loud and since I don’t gig much out of the house, works for me, heft and all.
Chefguy, the above applies to you as well as far as looking around for second hand gear. Best of Luck, and tell us what you find!
+1 on the lessons. You are never too old to learn something new…