[jahozer]

For 600. I dont know much else. Not pristine. but no known issues. Everything supposedly works.
Here are my pros and cons.
Pros:
1 Old Twin.
2. see above
3. I have the dough (not that I have money to burn, but I have about a grand to spend).
4. My WAF (wife acceptance factor) is high!
5. I have a very good, and reasonable albeit sloooow tech who could make the blackface mods or any other upgrade.
Cons:
1 Loud
2. See above

Im really just afraid of its loudness. I have a decent PA, and I just dont play that big of a place that wouldnt be mic'd anyway. I
I have been checking out Brad's SNS and really like the concept, but again, I just dont need that much power after the power amp.

I have a 50 watt ampeg and any more than 3 0r 4, and its a bit too loud. I have a fender style delay in it, so it is reasonably ok for jerry type stuff, and I am not exactly copping "jerry", although I am the Jerry guy. Im also Trey and Frank, but Im really just me.
Am missing a key component of this in my head like head room or any other such thing?
Thank god you guys talked me out of the red knobjob! Help me out furthur on my quest!

[czyfingers]

Personally, I don't think the volume is that big of an issue. If it's a 74, it's a master volume amp, which despite all it's critics, can be successfully used to keep the volume under control and still have good tone. I have a 72 showman reverb head that I have played gigs in living rooms with. I've modded mine all up and I love it. I think its the way to go personally, because you have more power when and if you need it. You could play it safe and get a deluxe reverb, but there may come a time when you wish you had more power. I have one of those too and I've tinkered with it to get more clean headroom out of it. It's a great amp and gets the job done, but when the band really gets jammin, even with the mods, it can't deliver the good cleanly, like the other one.
Another thought is.... if you've got a grand to work with, you could just about get Brad's SMS and an mc250 for that then you'd have a proven sweet rig. The SMS is new and ready to roll and the mac wouldn't need nearly as many mods/upgrades as the twin to get what you're after. I have an MC2120 that I've basicly done almost nothing to and it sounds wonderful combined with the showman as a preamp. That's my thoughts on it....lots of options....you will have good basic Jerry tone with any of the 3 I mentioned.

[hogan]

I'm not breaking your balls or trying to be mean, but in your post you're kinda all over the place. If you're currently playing 50 watts and it's loud, how is 100+ going to be better? A SMS is just a pre amp so it's not going to be the part of the equation that is dictating how loud you are. Take the $1000 and buy a SMS and a 100 watt power amp and don't turn it up unless the situation calls for it. Good to go in a 4 or less rack case. Or buy a nice silverface deluxe reverb and pop a k, d, e -120, weber, or tone tubby in it and mic it if you are running out of clean at large gigs. Both solutions come in at or under 1k. Goodluck

[jahozer]

God damn.
You are right, Hogan. I just reread what I put there. It doesn't exactly flow, does it? I can write sometimes!
I dont mean to say that I want it because its louder or, that even 50 watts is too, loud. Its that I want it for the sound difference. The extra wattage may be something of an unwanted side effect of getting this amp. And my concern is that I would have to keep it so low in most situations, that I would not really open it up to its full tonal potential. That is why I am asking for the opinions.

I see I fucked up the part about the SMS, too! I know its the preamp, but I guess seeing everyones posts about 300 +watt power amps just made me nervous, and thinking that now Im waaay over the line in wattage.
I still would need a cab with that solution, so really I would be about 13-1400 into an SMS>power amp>cab. I definitely like that option though.

[JonnyBoy]

I'd get SMS.. you can use any amp after and make it as loud as you want since the master is after all your tone shaping, that's the cool deal of it. You could get a 50 watt mcintosh amp hook the SMS and go through one 12" speaker all day at a reasonable level to gig small places and then have the volume to get loud with another speaker and the juice to fuel it. For quieter play you need a small practice amp anyway, even a 40 watt amp gets loud in its good zone, probably louder than the SMS at the point of the sweet spot, since you can lower the macs volume some and retain tone.

The Cons, you need a rack, cab and wires and a SS/tube power amp. A combo amp has it all, but some limitations like above. Strummin isn't lying about Fargen Amps. They're top notch, and you don't need a lot of power to have a good small gig amp.

Anyway I hope you find what it is you're looking for. If you already play pro, the SMS makes all the sense in the world for expandability.

[strumminsix]

For me, I would likely go with a Mesa 20/20 poweramp, set my low speaker on channel 1, my high on channel 2, have the soundguy mic one at use the other to control my stage volume!

Lots of powramp options, my friend!

[tigerstrat]

currently preamping my '68 SF(BF) Dual Show Reverb into the FX Return (power amp in) of my '85 Boogie Mark III 60w (2x6L6) with a JBL E120 (sometimes add a 2nd JBL in an ext. cab)... the 2x6L6/60w Mesa easily blows away the 250w SS Yorkville amp I had been using for several years, but there is a slight (almost imperceptible) loss of clean edge.