epiphone blues custom 30 vs. an actual custom build amp

This is an email i wrote to a friend the other day. we were talking about the epiphone blues custom 30, which is an excellent amp at its price range, btw. Don't take what i'm saying here as trying to trash it, they're great little amps - but like anything coming out of china often need a little TLC right out of the box to make things sound & work right....

i apologize in advance for the format and spelling errors, it's an email.

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so i looked into the epi amp we were talking about - it's definately a "feature-packed" amp, for the price they're talking, channel switching, 15/30 watt pentode/triode switching... it certainly does a lot. and of course, reverb.
the question becomes, of course, do you need all this junk? what kind of a tone are you really going for? channell switching is a definately something i've come to rely on over the years but since i've been playing with the vintage amps i've been learning that you can really control that kind of stuff in a much more fluid sort of way with a highly-touch sensitive amp, and get a much more fluid distortion out of it too, as you would be mainly using the power tubes.
the thing about the epi is i get the impression it's trying to be a sort of a cross between a tweed and a low power "poor mans" fender blackface twin. by using only two 5881s they're trying to really hit those tubes hard (5881 are mil-spec 6l6s, so they can be ran hot - lotsa power outta two tubes, and lotsa distortion). the tube powered reverb is definately a nice touch. of course its foot scwitchable, and you can run it in triode mode for even earlier onset of distortion (15 watts).
The tradeoff for all this fancy functionality of course is complexity of the build. and inevitably, the cheapening of the internal parts - look up a few reviews on harmony central and you'll see people talking about bad fuses and rectifier tubes right out of the box. and of course the factory speakers are shit.
now, it's $650. that's f'ing cheap. cheap enough to justify spending another $400 having someone get it running in prime form? i'm sure you won't get it biased right (out of the box. for that matter i'd be surprised if the stock tubes were even matched -ed.) and if the fuse and the rectifier tubes (among others) need to go right away, that's a few more bucks. just something to think about.
now, forgetting about cost for a second, thing about what an amp is supposed to be about - sculpting your tone with its inherent voicing. bells and wills will add to or detract from that basic done - but if the fundamental tone is flawed, you'll never get around that. this is why i've become such a fan of the classic builds. it's like a car. build the engine right, and the rest of the car will work itself out.
now, just knowing your sound and why you're leaning towards the blues custom you're attracted to that low-fi gritty down the tweeds are known for, but you mentioned you liked the reverb. well, if these were your primary requirements i'm sure i could accomodate them. personally i would reccommend you look at a medium powered tweed amp - something like the tweed 5E8A '57 Twin-amp (check out the reissue on musicians friend).
Tone-wise i bet that'll take you where you want to go - hands down. go down to guitar center and try it out!
now here's the neat part. if you like it - i can build an ACTUAL 5E8A with authentic premium parts, and the only difference you'd notice would be the fact that it says Wark on it intead of Fender...and it would sound even more authentic than the 'reissue'...and get this - i could do it for $1400!
not to mention the little things like, becuase the guy who built your amp is a friend of yours and some dude in china, some more care may in fact to into the biuld process, and the amp wouldn't get handed off to you sick out of the box.
now i know there will be some questions (what about effects, reverb, echo, switchable distortion, etc - what can be done)...the answer is everything - certain things we have learned to do over the years are actually rendered moot points when you get your first tube rectified classic amp - the whole going from clean to dirty becomes a matter of playing more than a matter of stomping...although tube screamers still might help get that last nail in your tone if you need it. but i've done entire rehersals with TSK and am completely confident that i could play an entire set on a single channel amp when the time comes, and i will, once i have the right amp built.

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a few corrections: $400 for immediate nessacery service might be an overstatment - but all new tubes, and a biasing could cost $150. New speakers could cost (up to) $400 and would make this amp sound much better, however.

Also, i got myself a little confused in that email - typically, more power in an amp means LESS distortion, not more - so mil-spec 5881s will definately raise the power rating beyond what a pair of 6l6s will put out, and that means more headroom, not less. The amp will break up more or less the same way, just at louder volumes. This may or may not be preferable, depending on what you are trying to do.