veggie.
Your right pedals wont be dammaged by a tube amp.
Anyhow... there is no rule of thumb when getting a tube amp for practice. I currently use an 30watter for practice. I dont have to push it to get a killer sound coz i like alot of headroom ... plus the dirty channel of my amp is good enough.
There is a really nice thing about small tube amps though. 1st they get that natural tube overdrive thats awesome... but not all work good with pedals. 2nd they are so light and easy to bring around. Less than 15lbs yung champ. It really depends on your situation. I gig with a 5watter at times miced because i like how it sounds. Of course the drummer usually kills me but .. its there. There are big 5 watters too and they can be plugged into 4x12's for some serious volume.
Basicaly you can get whatever amp you like. Personally I prefer smaller amps for practice coz i dont like being too loud and i like that mild overdrive. If you want metal..youll have to stick a good dirt pedal infront of it to make it sound good. The one thing i look for in small amps is good bass response and crisp highs. I find it really important coz the tone shaping tools in these 5 watters are very limited and if you wanna do chuga chug metal ... bakamabitin ka.
Ive tried the new fender (champion 600) I bought it ... used it for a week and sold it because it wasnt that great. 6" lang yung speaker so bitin yung bass. It did sound good though.. and for 200 dollars / 9850 pesos. Sobrang good deal siya. I would think its much better than the valve junior. At the end of it all though i ended up with the victoria 518 champ clone. Is much more expensive (800bucks / 40k) yung price but if you can afford it why not. ... if you cant the 600 is good enough. But honestly ... at these prices get a classic 20 nalang... para ma gig mo pa.
BTW the champion 600 is NOT GIGGABLE AT ANY LEVELS. Its just as loud as your typical car stero.
The old tweed champs are giggable and can fill a small room easily. (thats another reason i kept the 518... problema is 110 siya so kailangan my txformer ako palagi)... (oh well the things we do for our sound).
Btw.. if any of you guys are in makati... ill be sessioning for a band in magallianes wed next week. Drop me a pm if you wanna come by.. ill be using my 5watter and the VG strat. First gig with the VG ... nakakabahan ako... hahha.
