Re: Simple Amp, opinions wanted
Like Lew said on page one, there should be a drive switch somewhere. Even if most people end up not using it, and stack a Twin Tube, TS, or boutique drive in front, having the ability to kick on overdrive is pretty important IMO. As a standalone amp it should have two grit levels available with a footswitch. The Crate vintage clubs were kind of like that. They had these great clean sounds, and then the OD channel (which was still good btw) went all the way up to grunge saturation if you needed it. You wouldn't buy the amp for it's "metal distortion tone" but it was nice to know it was in there in some form. So even if it's like a built in "Burn Unit" style S.S. circuit that can be kicked on, it would be valuable IMO.
This thread also turned up another idea. Perhaps it's what you're going for already, but how about a tube "amp" that's extremely transparent, designed to be the "empty shell" for a guy with a full pedalboard/fx boxes? Instead of trying to impart the holy grail tube clean tone, you'd go after an open, dynamic, non overdriving sound, that could handle all the front end units, and perhaps TWO fx loops with level control, and a whole bunch of footswitching options, like solo boost, fx bypass, tone stack bypass (like a "flat" switch) and perhaps bright and deep on the footswitch as well. It would be the epicenter of a good rig, like a swiss army knife without the blade. You'd supply your own blade. Kind of like the Randall idea with the modular preamps, but designed to work with anything, not proprietary preamp modules. And it would make a fantastic "stereo-izer" slave for any tube head, too.