Building an Amp/Head combo?

[Curtis]

An awful lot of amps can be traced back to Fender or Marshall roots.  Cleans are almost always universally Fender preamp derivatives, and distortions are usually Marshall-based.  Even a lot of the uber-high gain amps are nothing more than a Marshall JCM800 with an extra triode stage thrown in for good measure - compare the schematics for a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier, Soldano SLO100, Bogner Ecstacy and a JCM800 and it's easy to see where a lot of the designers' inspiration came from.

 

[mrphotodude]

www.ax84.com
that is a beginning playing site.
a firefly is a high gain 1 watt amp.
1 watt may not sound like much, but for playing in a bedroom with an efficient speaker it is very loud!
They sell pcb's for the firefly on the forum sometimes of you can get one here:
http://web.mac.com/calhoun/PCB/Firefly_PCB.html
here is a site with some sound samples:
http://maizingrayz.com/firefly.htm

the 2204 with some mods is a great amp to have to shredding.
I wouldn't try a full blown 50watter(or 100) right off for a first build.
Tube amps do get pricey to build sometimes depending on parts as well.

The weber kits are cool.