Buying from Europe

ICBM

Matchless run the valves even hotter than Vox, too - I think 18-19W at idle, from the last one I checked. They are very well made, so I doubt any of the other components are at risk, but the valves are at the upper limit - I wouldn't have wanted to run a '220V' model at 240 if there were actually different versions. If there aren't then it doesn't matter.

Clingy

Not a lot of joy from Holland and the UK dealer has new stock and been kind enough to give me a tad more discount so I am "settling" for the Avalon 30.  Single channel but it has the tones I really wanted.

ToneControl

what tones are you after? I am assuming the DC30 tones based on your earlier post about the HC30

Did you only want the left channel on the DC30? The EF86 channel is the magic one for me, and the Avalon does not have it.
Fair enough if it's the left channel you want, and I'm sure it will sound glorious

Anyway, a few opinions from me, I hope these are helpful:

The resale value is a bit of an unknown, compared to a DC30 / HC30, and it's PCB - and I would worry more about PCBs with Matchless since they run hot, but I assume they have over-engineered something to protect the PCB??

You can get a used DC30 combo for £2000 - £2200 at the minute, which would last longer, have the EF86, and be worth the same on resale

Just in case you don't know yet - the DC30 sound is 35% down to the mismatched speakers in the Matchless cab, which they dope to change the tonality a bit. I have not been able to replicate this sound with any other speakers. The 1x12 combo version will not give you this, and buying a 2x12 Matchless cab is pretty expensive. A DC30 combo might be cheaper overall

 

Clingy

I'll let you know as I have just received the Avalon and the ES212 cab.  Resale value is an unknown, particularly as the dealer suspects they may be discontinuing the Avalon and at the very least it's going to be a long wait and tricky to get hold of one.  I had been looking for a 2nd hand DC/HC30 for some months without luck.  The PCB thing is a put off, but hell the amp just sounded fantastic and IMHO better then the HC30...so following my advice to everyone else, I "trusted my ears" over and above what I had read.  At the end when I was placing the order I did discuss with the dealer the HC30, but although I could have afforded the extra £1000 thought I'd rather put that towards a new Fender CS.  The advantage woudl have been that I would never have had a reason to upgrade.

Thansk for advice and help guys....pics to follow shortly