looking for a liquid dark tone mid to high-mid gain

['63-Strat]

Honestly OP have you considered just going the pedal route? For blues/blues rock this is pretty tried and tested.

You could easily get something like a used peavey classic 50 or fender hot rod or blues deluxe or deville (1X12, 2X12 or 4X10) for around $400 and add something like a bogner red/blue, plexitone and a ts type pedal and have great cleans and overdrive for cheap. I still think marks are too tight for that kinda thing myself. Of course your 18 watter or jtm 45 would also be perfect for that likely.

 

[tripstan]

Add Bogner ecstasy Red pedal to one of your tasty amps, boom done.

that does sound pretty damn good. i would mix it up with various amps, but what amp would you use with it?

Just got it and I've tried it with a Boogie Mk III and it totally smokes. Also tried it with a EH .22 caliber pedal amp and it sounded suprisingly good. I'm going to try it on my Einstein tonite. I'll let you know. The Mk III is all 6L6 tubes and the Einstein is all EL34's so it should be a pretty good comparison between the 2 style of tubes. But it smoke on the Boogie

 

[Robotechnology]

I rather like the lead tone you can dial out of this amp and it is in the right price range:

http://www.vvtamps.com/x-model.html