Well, let me give you another way to go:
Just last weekend, purely by chance, I found a Behringer Bass V-Amp Pro in a pawn shop and got it for 95 bucks
out the door. That's half what they go for on ebay.
It's a digital modelling amp with lots of classic amp models in it.
It does require a separate power amp...but you can use your stereo as your power amp,
via any spare set of inputs.
The thing kicks ass. I mean, REALLY. I'm one picky SOB when it comes to tones, and this thing got
me grinning from ear to ear once I had it all dialed in right.
I know a guy who has a rather nice 100 watt JCM 900 half stack for sale. I have played it,
and played it with the gain cranked and the master volume at seven.
I kid you not, I would not trade this V-Amp rig for that half stack in an even trade. I get a richer, more
aggressive, more tasty tone out of the V-amp with the greenbacks.
I use a separate power amp and am driving a pair of Celestion Greenbacks in a pair of 1x12 cabinets,
and transferred over my other effects from my other amp for use with this, and it SLAYS. Once I turned
off the cabinet emulation, which you'd leave on if you were using your stereo system, the tone came
absolutely to life. The only problem with the V-Amp is that the cabinet emulation models are not dynamic,
as if they were modelled only at a single volume level. So use real cabinets and shut off the emulation,
and the problem goes away.
I'm getting tones that are awfully close to what I expect out of the custom all-tube amp that's being built
for me now, which will be in a class equal to the David Bray amps.
Find a V-Amp. Play with it. You might love it. And they're not very expensive.
CJ