I'm looking to downsize and upgrade my guitar rig.

I like the idea of not lugging a 4x12 cab around. I've fantasized about having a valve preamp pedal and a small power amp, both of which I can throw in my gig bag along with my leads. Imagine turning up to gig with only your guitar in one hand and bag of gear in the other. Assuming there's already a cab onstage that some other generous soul lugged in and will let you use, you're all set.

I like the AMT SS20 pre amp pedal, but can't find anyone in Australia selling them.
https://youtu.be/Zlakr2OpOks
Assuming I get one, I've got no idea what to do about a power amp. Any suggestions?

For my tone tastes:
Metal distortion used to be my top priority, and so long as the clean wasn't unusable I'd be happy. Now most of my playing would be clean. I'd still love to dial up a face melting distortion on occasion, but I suspect there won't be many such occasions.

This made me think maybe I should start with a top quality clean sound, and a Fender Twin seemed like a logical place to start. It'd be smaller than the head & 4x12 monstrosities I'm used to, but not quite as portable as the rig-in-a-bag approach mentioned above. The main issue is, how the Dickens does one make a Fender Twin djent?

I could possibly stick something like the AMT SS20 in the effects loop, but I'm not sure they'd be a good match (I know a lot of distortion pedals don't play well with Fender amps).

Long story short, I've a got a Les Paul, and a desire for:
  • Portability
  • Valve tone
  • Quality clean with the option to get over-driven and completely distorted.


What would you recommend?