MakeShift
Well, I just checked out Champs on eBay......holy crud....I guess there is a whole cult based around old vintage high priced Champs. Yikes!

Yep. That is very true!

MakeShift
I think that the quest that I have been on as spanned several years now. I came to the realization that I will probably never play again in a situation where I will require anything near 50w of tube power. Lord knows, cranking it in a Church Worship service situation is not going to fly. I have been on a quest to down size and still have the tone I am used to.

Maybe 5-15w is really what I am after.....but 5w can still be VERY loud in power tube territory. 5w and the Webber, maybe what is needed. 😀

Kenny, it was several years back that I messed around some with a Marshall Class 5 and I liked it. They have discontinued them since. I have never really messed with a Champ much, but maybe I need to spend a little time with one. Are there any recommended Champs more than another model Champ? I know there are quite a few. The EC Champ is out of my budget, I'm sure.

When I played guitar with Andrae Crouch for about 2 years all I ever used was my Fender Super Champ ….
I never even had to go up past volume 3 or 4 , sometimes the sound man would give me a direct box and run my line out into the board ….The Super Champ ( original SC ) does have a line out and the tone is to die for ….
Andrae's Church was a very nice size…. Large ….lol 
I mention that because I was playing in a " genre / musical envirionment " that corresponds with the type of work you are doing ….
In the 80's I worked at Manny's Music in the guitar dept , at the time we carried the whole Mesa Boogie line , Fender , Marshall , Peavy, Trace E…. G…K… , Roland , I'm probably forgetting some brands …
anyway  I played out of everything the years that I worked there and the absolute favorite amp I wanted to buy was the Mesa MK II ….I couldn't afford it ….my other favorite was the Fender Super Champ 
every day I would play out of the Super Champ in the store and then compare it to the Mesa …
the difference in price was a grand and for the life of me I could not hear a thousand dollar difference 
I wound up getting my Super Champ about 31 years ago …it is the only piece of gear that I own that to this day every time I have plugged my guitar into it the people I was playing for or working for went wow …..
this has happened every time …. 
 
anyway lets see if we can get you up to speed on whats out there …
 
If you ever see a Rivera Super Champ try to play out of it….
 
Champs are some of the coolest amps out there  
 
The Fender Vibro Champ is a genuine sleeper , and it has a clean tone to die for ….
http://vibrochamp.org 
I've seen them in the 400 dollar range every so often ….
 
here's a champ wiki , good if you feel like reading up on what been out there …
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Champ 
 
I hope to get one of these some day ..it is the Super Champ w out the push pull dirt channel ….
as a mater of fact I use my SC as if it was this amp ..set clean w an OD pedal for boost / dirt 
http://wgs4.com/fender-champ-ii-one-rare-bird
 
I have giged with the Marshall Class 5 and it is a loud 5 watts , it was very easy to play over the drums …
it is built sturdy like a good Marshall should be ..it has a nice heavy duty cabinet and the speaker it comes with works well …a lot of people tried out all kinds of speakers and wound up going back to the stock speaker ….
the combo has a switch that cuts the power for low volume dirt ….at home I preferred to leave it on high power and throw a vintage SD1 from the 80's in front of it …it effing growled even at low volume using that approach …
I bought mine new a GC for a 4 th of July sale 3 or 4 years ago for mid 3's …..every so often I see them go for 250 to 400 used they are out there ….it's a great amp …it breaks up to soon if your used to fender style cleans ….
 
probably the least impressive amp I own is the Champ 600 …
I say least impressive because every well know amp builder I have ever talked with has snubbed it 
I love the amp and I wound up playing out of it for years as a home amp , also it makes a great amp to bring out to play and jam with other musicians as long as you don't have to play with a drummer that has to play loud or has no self control …
there are a lot of people that love it ( guitar players ) I'm in that camp because of one reason alone
the tone is there ….build quality  or origin of build aside …I will say it again the tone is there ….
other than a Tube change I have left mine bone stock and I am very happy with it ….. 
 
I don't do E Bay anymore and when people start quoting me E bay prices I laugh in their face and I set them straight
cash talks and bull$hit walks …go ahead and try to sell it on E bay …that's an easy way to give E Bay and Pay Pal an easy hundred bucks or more 
if they have something I want to buy I will show them the money …   then I will go old school Desert style on their a$$ and make like I just crossed the Desert on a two humped Camel when it comes time to negotiate the price ….
there is a lot of cool amps out there , you never know , if you are patient , you may run across somebody that took real good care of their amp , maybe they need a little cash for an unexpected car repair or they may want to free up some space for other gear .
 
Kenny

batsbrew
ceriatone makes a great clone of a champ.
 

+ 1 
 
Kenny

Blackstar HT-1HR.  You can run it without a load (cabinet), outputting either to headphones or straight into a console (it has a speaker-emulated out).  I drive it with a Big Green Rhino MkII, but the overdrive channel is excellent without.
 
The sound is fantastic and the ISF and Reverb features are really good.
 
This amp just destroys everything else I have sound-wise (Orange uTerror valve amp, Overloud TH2, Guitar Rig 5, various multi-fx pedals, Sansamp PS-1/Classic etc. etc.)  I don't have the capability of running a large(r) amp at home, so was looking for something I could use for both recording and practice and this amp hit the spot perfectly.
 
I could go on for a while longer about how good the sound is...so I will!  The amp is very playable in terms of how is responds to the nuances of your playing.  You can dial in the balance between smoothness and break-up to be just where you want it (esp. using the BGR to kick it right in the chops).  
 
Probably my favourite musical purchase of the year.

I have a Blackstar HT5RH and a Bugera V22 that I've had for a while.  I bought these for low volume play and recording.  I don't like the direct out of the HT5 as it's preamp.  It sounds decent, just not 'wow'.
 
I picked up a Red Box 5 and have been using that long enough to say I really like it.  I use it with with a honkin' 100W 8 ohm wirewound resistor as a dummy load - plenty for 5 and 22W max output amps.  I actually use this configuration thru my monitors to play most of the time even when not recording.
 
This example is the V22 with nothing other than the amp's own reverb.  Clean back, drive channel on top:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55528892/RedBox.mp3
 
This example is the HT5RH.  Clean back, drive on top, but with some effects added - in a GT-001 IIRC:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55528892/HT5RH_RedBox5.mp3
 
Now, having gone thru all of that, I couldn't resist this.  It's been ordered, but won't ship until next month some time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_8g1GXyoKU
 
 

Great stuff guys. I have been doing a lot of reading and research based on all the info that you all are throwing my way.

rfreeze both of those clips sound REALLY nice.....but I especially like the tone of that V22.

MakeShift
rfreeze both of those clips sound REALLY nice.....but I especially like the tone of that V22.

Thanks Mike.  I'm really pleased with the Red Box 5 and the amp.  Mesa also has a version out called CabClone.  It's a cab simulator and load combined with a few more conveniences.  I got interested in this kind of solution because it opens up a larger variety of amps for use in a studio setting.
 
--
Bob

The Cabclone looks interesting too, Bob. Basically acts as the dummy and cab simulator combined, similar to what you are doing with your rig?

MakeShift
The Cabclone looks interesting too, Bob. Basically acts as the dummy and cab simulator combined, similar to what you are doing with your rig?

Yes, quite similar.  A couple of differences (from memory) ... the RB5 needs power.  Phantom power is the way I use it.  Can also use a battery or external.  The CabClone does NOT require any power.
 
The RB5 has two possible levels; 0db and -26db.  You have to push the amp pretty hard to have a decent level at -26.  I use the 0db setting and pull back on the amp.  The CabClone has a level knob for level out.
 
There are some other differences.  I was skeptical and already had the load, so I went the H&K route for 1/3 of the cost.  I've never used a CabClone so I don't know what difference would be in the results.
 
They both can operate along with the regular cab so you can capture a mic'd cab and direct signal for blending.  The CabClone may also have this, but there is an IR free to download at the H&K site for adding a mic sim to the result ITB.
 
All things considered, if I didn't have the load already I probably would've ordered the CabClone instead.  The load I use and the internal load in the CabClone are resistive.  Speaker simulation happens internally on the way to both of their outputs.
 
I keep the RB5 w/load connected to my V22 most of the time and play thru monitors (Event PS8s).  Great tone at 'normal' music listening levels  :)  I've A/B'd this by playing back an RB5 recording while playing thru the V22 internal speaker.  I can't hear a nickel's worth of difference except in the range of volumes that produce pleasing results.