Help me find a midsized guitar amp!

• I'm thinking of getting a new amplifier! I've been using the same Fender Bassman Ten as a guitar amp for 13 years. It's been a champ, and I love the sound I get out of it... but it's huge and bulky, it's probably more powerful than I need (I typically have the master volume at about 4 during practice to keep from blasting out the room; it's gone higher for shows occasionally, but we usually play places that mike amps), and sometimes I feel jealous of people with their fancy-dan reverb built into the amp, etc. So, recommendations. Looking for something lower-powered (I think the Bassman's 80 watts), but powerful enough to hold its own in a practice space with a couple other guitars and a loud drummer. Tube strongly preferred, unless you can convince me otherwise. I'd love something priced so that I could cover most of the cost by trading the Bassman in, but that's also not set in stone. I know that the final decision'll come down to taking a guitar into the store and plugging in and trying some amps out, but I'd like to have some direction for my search.

• Answer:

  Well, I'd honestly recommend just keeping the amp you have now and supplementing with pedals as needed. I've wheeled and dealed enough to realize that if you trade in an amp you really like, just because you think it's too much amp or you're bored, you'll find things to not like about the new one. Granted, if you have no car let's say, it's going to be tough to carry a 4x12 around. I get that. If you 'love' the sound of the Bassman, stick with it. Those early 80s Fenders are pretty rock solid, USA made and not MDF (crap non-wood construction) and PTP (that is, made like only the fancy-fancy boutique amps these days). You have reliability and tone you love. Even a great Matchless/Vox is going to be quite a different sound than a Fender. The current Vox stuff is made in China and most Fender stuff is made in Mexico- you're taking a quality dive for sure with some of this new stuff, as good a value as it may seem. I've played most of the above stuff and I would second the Vibrolux and Supersonic recommendations, and of course the Matchless. I quite like the precursor to the Supersonic, the Prosonic, which I definitely should have held onto. I had a Peavey Classic 30 years ago which was really not bad, though IME not enough for a loud drummer. My current, and currently only amp is a Marshall 1974x which I just LOVE, but mine has had reliability issues that piss me off considering it's $3200 new. YMMV, just thought I throw the alternative options in there for you.