[Harp-L] Amp recommendations?

[Ima Nonimous <imanonimous@xxxxxxx>]

Greetings,

I would appreciate recommendations and/or insights about choosing a  
combo amp for gigs in small venues like coffee-houses, pubs, small  
auditoriums, and occasional outdoor gigs for audiences up to 200 or  
so. I realize that nobody can point me to an amp I'm guaranteed to  
love, but your advice will certainly help me sort though the hype and  
I thank you in advance for whatever guidance you can offer.

A little background: I've never played professionally and never had a  
good excuse for buying a good combo amp. Although I cut my teeth  
playing along with Big Walter and Carey Bell (on vinyl, the first  
blues album I ever bought) my playing has been mostly acoustic blues,  
folk, and bluegrass. But recently I was invited to join a band led by  
an experienced, competent (and very non-egotistical) guitarist with a  
taste for the Chicago sound. He has an old high-end Ovation that is  
surprisingly loud, even unplugged. Other instruments are fiddle,  
upright bass, and drums. Not your typical blues band, and we're doing  
a variety of material including country blues, bluegrass, skiffle, and  
some Chicago influenced blues, which gets loud despite the acoustic  
nature of the band.

Years ago I bought a Crate VC-508. I had never used it beyond a small  
coffee-house gig and it proved inadequate in a small auditorium this  
weekend. I don't have enough experience playing amplified to really  
complain about the tone, but it doesn't give me chills (I can hear the  
solid state preamp breaking up). I know the 508 has it's fans and  
critics. The big problem is volume, and the ability to play loud  
whether dirty or clean, and to get good tone at lower volume for  
smaller venues.  I like the mics I have, and if I buy a new amp would  
like it to work well with them: 520D, Shaker dynamic, SM58, AKG D5  
(although the D5 is only useful on a stand, the windscreen makes it  
almost impossible to cup effectively).

I'd like to keep the cost down to $750 or less, and the amp as small  
as possible. I'm not so concerned about weight, it's the "fit in the  
trunk" feature that matters most.

So, is this the impossible dream?
What would you choose, and why?
Should I be looking at the boutique amps like HarpGear, Fat Dog, etc  
(they seem to be the only players in my price range)?
The Fender Blues Deluxe (recently recommended here by Rob Paparozzi)  
has a lot of horsepower and fits the budget and the trunk, but would I  
find it difficult to get good tone at low volume with an amp designed  
for guitar?
What about Harp Commander, using it to run through the PA, using my  
508 as a stage monitor?

Regards and thanks,

Harry Thomas