Being entirely dissatisfied with my current amplifier (don't even ask), I'm looking for a replacement with some actual wattage. I had a vague memory that I used to lust after a Crate GFX 65 back in highschool (that was only 7-8 years ago, but seems like forever), and lo and behold, they are going for below $100 used.

My memory is fuzzy, and I can't quite remember which solid-state amps were hip and groovy in the late 90's, early 2000's. What contemporaries of the Crate GFX series do you remember, or think are particularly noteworthy?

Greetings and such.

In these troubling economic times, I don't have much cash to throw around. So the only amplifier I have right now is a Kustom KGA10, 10 watts of mildly crummy sound through a mildy crummy 6-inch speaker in a mildly crummy 10-inch cube. Fortunately(?) I have this insatiable desire to pull things apart and modify them.  :trouble So here's my idea.

I pulled the back off for fun, and it looks like everything but the speaker would come out easily. I plan to make a small amp head that I can carry in a backpack.

The amp puts out at 4 ohms, and I presume wouldn't much care for dealing with 8 ohms. I want to wire four 4-ohm speakers together like so: two each in a series pair, then wire each pair (treating each pair as a single 8-ohm speaker) in parallel, which if I'm right should result in an overall resistance of 4 ohms, meaning my amp won't freak. I would put these speakers into a small cabinet (to be created from some sort of scrap something).

I am hoping that using for speakers might result in somewhat better tone quality from the amp, even if it is a cheapo.

Now here's what might be the crazy part.  :loco In order to facilitate portability, and in cheapness, I was thinking of using 4 3-way car speakers, something in the 5x7 oval crowd, or 6.5 inch rounds. I know that car speakers are not optimized for guitar use, but they are lightweight, decently cheap, and can generally be found responsive to the 45-20,000 hz range, or at least as low as 60 hz. My understanding is that the low E on a guitar is 83 hz or so, so hopefully this range would be just right.

Thoughts, concerns, and snide remarks are appreciated...