Thanks!
My Carmen Ghia, I believe is off the first batch that was produced, although I am not certain. I should probably change the tubes out soon. Anyway...
It's a really great amp. 18W, single channel, no bullshit.
Unless you have one single tone, live you would need to supplement with some pedals (which it takes very well).
For recording it's really really cool though. It has a volume knob and a tone knob. End of story. So you basically just control the amount of overdrive and body... So simple and effective.
It's a little bit different from a Plexi, but you can still get in that ball park. It's very responsive, pleasant and unforgiving at the same time.
What I enjoy most, is how it lets the guitars true tonal character to shine through without adding colouration.
Best use is clean with slight break up, and mid-gain sounds.