| If you're into "pooging" these things, the EFX loop can be added fairly
eaasily, so if you found the right sound in an amp without the EFX
loop (at the right price), go for it.
You're right about that "clean" sound. To me this is priority #1. If it
can't do clean, it's probably a dog.
Don't be fooled by power rating. I have a class A 15 watt Mesa Boogie
MK-II that breaks glass at 200 ft. The only way to know is to listen to
it. The best test for this is "clean & LOUD". Use your own guitar when
you test it (even in a music store), set it for a clean sound as loud
as they let you & play some full (all 6 strings) chords. Listen for a
slight grungy sound which you *don't* want (the cleaner the better).
Playing with distortion or overdrive on will only mask what you're
trying to hear. (BTW: This will not usually make you sound like a great
guitar player in the music store, there's other techniques for that.)
If you're mostly playing a Strat, I'd expect that you'd be better off
with a closed back speaker cab. Depending on which pickups you've got,
Strats tend to be thinner sounding (than Les Paul's), so you can use
all the help you can get in the low end & low mid. Open back enclosures
tend to be light on the lows. If you've got the space, a Marshall (or
decent copy) 4x12 cabinet is an excellent choice. Outside the building
is a good place to audition speaker cabs for low end.
Paul
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