Uber budget Tube amp advice!

Jet city do a nice 20 watt head or combo that should fit your budget, also have a look at the Blackstar HT range. I know theyre not to everyones liking but a Marshall MA might be worth looking into, the newer ones have a tad more gain than the originals. 

You want clean to slightly overdriven tone---a la Robben Ford.......you need Dumble-Style amp.  Don't waste your money on Blackstar, etc -, no good amps for $600.00 - save your money and stop buying $250.00 pedals- amp gets tone, not pedals. 

If stuck on $600, I would buy a used Fender TWEED Blues Jr. ($300.00) and Marshall Class 5 ($300.00) and put those together with your Zendrive.  Turn two combo amps up to 5-8, with Zendrive and use of volume control on guitar- would work.

Again, save up until you have $1,500-$2k and get a D-style amp, like this one of mine: Ceriatone OTS:

Here's a little noodle I did on clean channel with no OD pedals.  Give you an idea of smoothness....except my playing....lol: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRW-JDfnnK8

The strat is an ERic clapton signature (1989 model I belive) with lace sensor pickups and a 25 dB mid boost circuit...  The lace sensors are really quite compaired to vintage style strat pickups.  The mid boost fattens up the guitar and makes it sound like a humbucking guitar.  Problem is if you have high gain already the mid boost when used could make you feedback like a S.O.A.B.  So you could get by with the boost and the gain but a boost and the gain and a zendrive might go nuts and feedback uncontrolable. 

A lot of guys look for used marshalls.  I had a jcm800 50 watt head that I got for $600 back in 2002 it was a beast and could handle an eric clapton strat no problem.  It was more amp than I needed and didn't sound near as good clean as my fender custom vibrolux reverb.  Talk about clean that thing sparkeled.  If you want Joe's sound go for a used marshall combo jcm800 or a 900.  If you go newer then that you will be looking to spend more then your $600.  Expect to spend more then $1000 on a Jub. 

Zendrive is a great pedal but as was said already its time to invest in a tube amp.  If it was me I would look on Ebay and find a used Fender amp or Marshall.  You could get a Hot Rod Deluxe 1x12 for $350 Verison II of course.  I just sold one for that.  Don't go and buy a new one because its new, there are a lot of people out there that need to sell and make quick cash and this is the time to act for you my friend.  HRD have very good cleans and have decent distortion tones.  But you have a great Overdrive pedal so clean is more important for you IMHO.  A 15 watt amp like the Blues JR is great too and best of all you can run them hot to get that cranked sound... You'll have to to get loud enough to get over the drums.  If you mic then thats a different story altogether.  If you don't mic becareful using a boost pedal or drive pedal on an amp that you already have turned wide open.  Its built to handle power from a guitar when cranked not a guitar and boost pedal.

Avoid the Blues Jr if you plan on buying delay pedal as the blues jr has no effects loop.  you really want that as an option later on.  Good luck and happy shopping.

Hey Fender makes a reissue of that.  Its a great sounding amp, I just know if you can find one for $600.

Well I will have to disagree with a few previous posters here!
I just built a ceriatone 2550 ( 50 watt Silver Jubilee )
For

Amp kit minus tubes, Iron ( trannies) and Head cab = $460 shipped
All Sozo caps
Got the Iron ( PT, OT and Choke ) from Magnet components = $140
Already had tubes but expect to pay = $70  for 2 el34's and 3 12ax7's

If you are good with woodwork you could save on cab

So right now I have a working 2550 clone that cost me $600 in parts

I am not good at wood work so I paid the extra $230 for a really nice head cab which I should have by the weekend

Here is a link to the build I documented
http://ceriatoneforum.com/index.php?topic=3544.0

I would only recommend this to som,eone who is good with electronics and can finish a project cradle to grave.

Just had to chime in because someone mentioned not being able to get this tone for under $1000. That is true if you need the nameplate to say Marshall.
Your ears will never know!

Todd

I just bought a Fender Vibrolux custom for 575.  It is a very nice amp.  Sounds great especially with my vast collection of 250 dollar pedals.

I would also check  out Jet City amps.  They are really nice sounding and have a nice overdrive with an effects loop which can be very nice for delays and reverbs.

While I would argue you dont need an amp higher than 15 watts for most gigs... If you are playing outside or playing alot of shows where you are not going to be mic'd you'll want something in the 50ish watt range.  An AC30 might work but outdoor gigs without micing the amp you probably want a higher watt amp. It depends on what your using it for.

I use a 15 watt AC15 for everything.  I mic it at just about every gig, and anything small indoors it is plenty loud to keep up with the band and sound great. It works for me.

I never really thought much of 2x10 combo's. Then my dad took a 65 bassman head and put it in a cabinet with 2x10's and it sounded amazingly balanced.  I use my Vibrolox all the time now.  Its a great deal and for sure one of Fenders better amps.