So, quick recap: looking for something to serve me both live as well as recording. Had a Behringer bass v-amp pro but that suddenly bit the dust and I'm looking for something better. I do not need any effects, just preamp and light grit. No distortion.
Portability and weight are big factors. Live use pertains to venues that all provide their own backline and always with PA support although some flat out refuse to get the DI out of your pedal and opt for the DI out of their (usually crappy) amps instead.
Now, after countless hours of searching for a clean preamp, I ironically found myself falling in love with the Darkglass vintage mid heavy grit (just grit, not full on distortion, mind you) and its clean tone doesn't sound half bad either. So that's where I'm going.
Problem is, I can't decide what would suit my situation better.
Note that I won't be buying my own cab at least in the foreseeable future and I'll be using whatever's provided. Don't want to spend anything on a cab for very, VERY low paying gigs and due to spinal issues I wouldn't be able to lug it around anyway.
So I'll break down my thought process.
Amp (DG MT500 head, can't afford or probably need the 900 version): that would really stretch my budget but it's got pretty much everything I need. A nice enough EQ, a serviceable compressor, DI out, the grit I like and enough power to gig (I think). Cab sims included as well. It's also light and small enough to probably fit even in a gigbag. I can carry it around, plop it on to any provided cab or straight to the FOH and have my sound anywhere.
Don't see any cons apart from the high price although I would be a little worried about its reliability, having read a few threads with people who had issues with those heads.
Preamp/DI pedal
Again, Darkglass vintage ultra. Why the ultra instead of the v3? Mostly because the ultra has the cab sim, which I find very useful, especially when using some grit.
Again, even lighter than the amp but lacking a compressor. Which means I'll have to pay more for another pedal and by this point, I don't think I'd really be saving much money going that route, which would be the only reason to opt for it. Also, not sure whether sound people here will accept to take the pedal's DI out instead of the amp's.
Pedals: since backline's always provided, I can just get a few pedals. But since I want to avoid using the amp for anything more than its power section pretty much, I'd need to do all the time sculpting before that. So ok, I can get the DG vintage dirt pedal but then I'll an EQ, a compressor and I'll most likely get some kind of DI too, just "to be safe".
Which means I'll probably end up with a pedalboard that would take up more space, be heavier and have more possible points of failure.
Needless to say, I'm not too fond of that route.
So, what I'm basically asking is, is there any reason to not get the amp head and opt for something else instead?
Many thanks
