I joined this site just so I could post this reply. :-)
I've been playing for about 30 years. In that time I've played some very very nice amps (and some crap ones too but that's a different thread). I play loud electric blues-based rock. Needless to say then, I've played tube amps almost exclusively. I also have almost always played humbuckers. I love the sound that Jimi and SRV and Trower get but when I play single coils it almost never feels right. The best amp I had ever played through, the one that put out tone that was closest to what was in my head was a 2x12 combo Silver Jubilee. At that time ('89 or '90) I was playing in a metal band and like a fool I traded the combo in for a JCM 800 half-stack.
In the 15 or so years since then I've never found another amp that made me want to play the damn callouses off my fingers. I've played a pile of Marshall and Fender amps with a few Vox and Orange and Hiwatt thrown in. I've also demoed the hell out of a few 'boutique' amps including Dr. Z and Budda. They all had something nice about them but none of them inspired me to plunk down a fistful of money (or in the case of the boutique amps a couple of fistfuls). Well my search has ended. A few weeks ago I walked into a small shop here in central Arizona and played through a Quidley 1x12 combo. After just a few minutes I knew..I was done. Done like the first time I met my wife. Done like the first time I played my handmade, no serial number guitar. Stick a fork in it.. DONE!
You can go to Ed's site (http://www.quidleyamps.com/) for the details but lemme say, this amp is A-FRIGGIN-MAZING (you listening Joe?).
The Quidley is an all-tube two-channel, point-to-point handwired tone machine. Switchable between 8 and 22 watts (don't let those numbers fool you...8 watts will have your neighbors banging on the wall and 22 watts will get the police to show up) and also switchable between open and closed negative feedback loop (so you're switching between a Fender / Marshall architecture that is super tight and punchy and a Matchless / Vox architecture that is more chimey and airey.
The best way I can describe the tone of the Quidley is either the most harmonically rich smooth singing JTM45 or the most ballsy gutsy growlin' howlin AC30 you've ever heard or played through.
If there's any way you have the opportunity to demo one of these do not hesitate. Ed's just starting out on a national level (he's over in North Carolina, right down the road from Swart Amps and Mojo Musical Supply) and so dealerships are few and far between but anyone who loves that thick howling woody sound of Billy Gibbons, Bluesbreakers era Clapton, Paul Kossoff, etc. you owe it to yourself to consider a Quidley.
Finally, I guess after all that I should state that I am in NO WAY affiliated with Quidley or any dealership. I'm just a guy who's been chasing a sound in his head for a few decades.
Good luck in your search!
