Who?

It was November (2019) or so when I mentioned to my friend Michael (also a musician) that none of my solid state amps, nor my electronic gadgetry, really brought out the the tone I wanted from my guitars when I played. Among Michael's many talents includes amp building and repair as well as guitar luthiery, so he has a wealth of knowledge about the entire chain of components that affect and support creating meaningful good-sounding guitar music. After many many email exchanges and conversations about what I liked in other players, we realized what they tended to have in common was tube amp harmonics and distortion, and I wondered out loud whether I could build a tube pre-amp. He suggested I just get a Fender Deluxe amp kit, and build that... he even offered to send a few spare parts he had laying around (... 3 boxes of "spare parts" recently arrived, including tubes, transformers, wire, switches and other hardware, which will become the guts of the amp I build - Thank-you Michael!). 

But when I listened to samples of the Deluxe, it didn't seem like the right sound for me. And as I wondered why, I realized that I didn't actually have a clear sense what the classic amps sound like and how they differ.