I was actually thinking of running it by itself, since I use pedals for all my sounds. The manual says you can run a guitar straight into it without a preamp and still get a really good sound.
Yeah, that works great. Straight in it sounds like a really sweet and fat fender clean amp. If you use the half-power mode it will have a bit less headroom and will give you some sweet breakup when you crank it. But, beware... this sucker is LOUD!!!!!!!!!
Loud is good! I play in a 25+ piece big band, and 90% of our gigs are outdoors, with no PA!
It's nice to be heard, but it's even better to be FELT!!! I might have to give this one a go, especially since my pedals are already set up, and all I'm really looking for is some good tubey volume.