Hello Defiled,
Happy Holidays to you too. I have 3 problems with fully comprehending your post, but I will try none the less to help you. 1) Is a pound still worth about $2? 2) I have heard you guys have to spend more to get what you want there (shipping costs perchance)? And 3) I can't seem to find an all tube combo on Ampeg's site, the only combos with 15's I can see are either 100 or 220 Watt SS amps (with a tube pre-amp as an option).
If you want to get Ampeg ... Have you thought about used gear? St. Louis Music company (SLM) was the company that owned Ampeg before they sold to LOUD technologies and had their entire production moved overseas. Parts for their amps have been made in China since the mid '80's but they were always finished in America. People say a lot of bad things about LOUD, I have no personal experience (because I have never purchased any LOUD equipment, and have never had any problems with my older SLM stuff), but it also seems to me MANY people on TB lately don't have good things to say about Ampeg in general. I honestly don't know why. It is/was the industry standard since the '60's. I have heard things about their many 10 inch speaker cabs not being able to handle anything below 50 Db, I have heard people say the SVT 3 Pro's (and sometimes even the 4 Pro's) are underpowered, and that customer support with LOUD is horrible. I take comments like the first two with a grain of salt, because I like my Ampeg gear and have not experienced these things. I like my sound and Ampeg is a part of it and that works very well for me.
I understand the major move toward more light weight gear lately, and companies like Mark Bass (LM II and many combos) and Genz-Benz (Shuttles and combos) seem to get great reviews, but they can be expensive. Also companies like Mesa Boogie and Gallien-Krueger pump out really great products.
IMO, the words inexpensive and tube/valve don't belong in the same sentence. Many companies (including Ampeg) are now trying to incorporate tube sound with SS power and reliability. Some do this with separate channels and others do this with tube pre-amps and SS power amps. They do this because they acknowledge the sound of tubes and yet are also, generally, trying to save on weight.
Since you asked about G-K, I will tell you what I know about them. They make very good products and have great customer support. They are all SS except for a head they just introduced called the fusion 550, it has a tube pre. They have 3 lines of products ... Artist series, microbass series and backline series. 2 of the lines have 1x15 combos. Artist line is most expensive and the backline in most value oriented (again I have no idea if they are available in the UK within your price range). If I were to look in the Artist series for a combo that had a 15 inch sub I would find the 400Rb-IV/115 with power ratings of 180 Watts (and 280 Watts with an extension cab) that might be conservatively priced. Or the Backline 115 that offers 115 Watts (and 175 Watts with another cab). With the backline you are sacrificing power but you gain the signature G-K growl that comes with their big gun (the 2001RB), to get this with a lot of their other models you have to buy a diesel dawg pedal.
I feel I should mention one more thing before I depart. SS amps deliver more power to lower Ohm loads down to their lowest Ohm rating. This is why they have a higher output spec. if another cab is added. For example if you get a 1x15 combo that has an 8 Ohm speaker load you can add another 8 Ohm cab to increase it's power output, so lets say you go with the G-K 400RB IV/115 and add another 8 Ohm 1x15 cab, each cab would receive 140 Watts RMS, whereas without the additional cab your head would produce 100 Watts less. A tube amp will not do this (they deliver the same amount of Watts no matter what Ohm load you have attached, down to it's lowest impedance level) but having a tube pre will still allow you to get the benefit of SS power.
So the two biggest things I have to say is 1) look into used if it is an option for you and 2) try out everything you are considering buying if it is in anyway possible, if it doesn't sound good to your ears, don't get it. I hope that what I had to say helps you out in your decision, I wish you the best of luck in getting what you want. Cheers.
