[Slartibartfarst]

I've just been offered a job in The Falklands to start in August and this has started me thinking about my gear. I'll have to give up my band here and I see no obvious likelihood of having a band there but they do have open mic nights and there might be the possibility of the odd show at the school but other than that I'll effectively now become a home player. It strikes me that my current amp, an Orange TH30, is a bit overkill and is also very heavy for transportation as well as posing problems of getting valves in such a remote area. I'd like something that I could still gig with at small venues if needed and gives a great tone, like my beloved Orange, but is also more flexible for home use where I may record a bit and play along to backing tracks. It's been a long time since I looked seriously at anything other than valves so I'm unsure what my possibilities are. In the past I've tried a Digitech RP1000, Line6 SpiderValve and Peavey Vypyr but none have impressed me. They don't sound as good as valves and they don't respond like valves and they don't have the same punch as valves. Sadly I don't have the money to spend on a Kemper or similar. I think it might be most cost effective to get a head to go with my Orange 112 cabinet but I'm open to the idea of getting a combo. I already know that the Yamaha THR100HD is a possibility and I see Marshall have an amp called 'CODE' coming but what other options might I have and what would you suggest as the best option for me?

[LPBII]

Well there's the Fender Mustang digital amp series and they are very good for the price.

http://www.fender.com/amplifier-series/mustang/ 

There's also the Super Champ which has a 15 watt tube output stage and digital preamp. It comes as a Head or a combo:

http://www.fender.com/guitar-amplifiers/contemporary/super-champ-x2-hd/product-2223100000.html

Then there's low watt all tube options such as boutique Marshall 18 watt clones and Tweed and Brown Face Deluxe head clones..ect...

As well as current production 15 watt amps such the Orange Tiny Terror, the Marshall DSL 15H, EVH lunch Box 5150, Peavy 6505 mini, Peavy Classic mini....

From what I read the Marshall code head is only going to be 23" wide, so its a relatively small box head. Even though it's 100 watts those are solid state watts, and digital amps don't need to be loud to sound decent.

It would be a shame to not have a gig or jam worthy option down there.  I was talking to an old bandmate drummer friend of mine and he finds himself playing in bands way up in the north Alaska while away on the job for weeks at a time.

[LPBII]

Ah, the Fender stuff operates on 120v. I suppose the Falklands are 220-240v. I don't know if they make 220 volt models or not?

[Slartibartfarst]

I recently picked up a used BluGuitar AMP1 that I now have sat on my pedalboard and while it's not quite as good as my old Orange TH30, it still offers some great valve tones and the compact nature of the set up is something I REALLY love. As most of my playing will now be in the home, I'd like to experiment with a bit of recording. My original idea was to keep my compact amp and effects for playing live and use a Presonus iTwo as an audio interface to record to my computer. However, because the AMP1 is proving to be better than expected, recently I've been wondering about the possible wisdom of going the whole hog and buying a Pod HD500X to use for everything. This idea raises a few questions:

1) How do the amp models on the HD500X stand up to a real valve amp or the AMP1?
2) Can the HD500X be used for recording as I want?
3) What's the best way of getting a live sound from the HD500X - hooked up to a traditional guitar amp, connected to a power amp and then into a guitar cabinet or into an FRFR system like an active PA speaker or keyboard amp?
4) If the answer to the previous question is a PA speaker then what sort should I be looking at? I seem to vaguely recall in the past someone saying that active PA speakers with a 15" speaker was best or is it better with a 12" speaker like a traditional guitar cabinet?

Thanks