Electric guitar and home-amp purchase options

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As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I’ve been looking at some reasonably priced Strat-style guitars and home practice amplifiers ahead of starting electric lead guitar lessons in the autumn.

My main requirement is a comfortable guitar for learning blues-rock lead playing, with reasonably low action for bends and vibrato. It would be useful if it could also handle some of the fingerstyle pieces I’m learning, although that is secondary.

Here are two possibilities I've found (although there are plenty of options):

1. Squier 2023 Classic Vibe 70s HSS Stratocaster Walnut Indian Laurel Fingerboard (Pre-Owned). This is £299 and comes from a dealer with some assurance over its condition and quality.

2. Sire Larry Carlton S5 Electric Guitar in Olympic White. This is a new guitar at £349. With SSS pickup configuration.

For a straightforward home practice amplifier, I have also been considering:

3. Fender Champion™ II 25. This is £145. It appears to provide a conventional clean and overdriven sound, reverb, a headphone output and an auxiliary input for backing tracks, without being excessively complicated.

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I was once in a Blues-Rock Band

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As a teenager in the late sixties, I was drawn magnetically to the blues - not the unpolished American acoustic Delta blues but its English, electric blues-rock offspring: Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Paul Kossoff.

As a teen, I practiced on my first acoustic-guitar-with-electric-pickup in my bedroom until my fingers calloused - blasting the house through the valve-radio amp; at university I played lead guitar in a four-piece band with a second-hand Fender Stratocaster, covering Cream, Free, Hendrix, and the standard electric blues repertoire.

We once opened for Free, blew up the university amp, and had to borrow theirs - an act of stunning kindness.

I actively disliked The Rolling Stones (pretentious strutting, I reckoned) and Pink Floyd (just pretentious).

I wanted directness and authenticity - delivered with craft and extreme volume. Unfortunately I wasn't really that good.

Now, in my seventies, I have a renewed appreciation for the virtuosity and diversity of Led Zeppelin and the stage impact of Rory Gallagher; I listen to Walter Trout, and sometimes to Ally Venable, Joe Bonamassa, and the Zac Schulze Gang.

And, as I practise blues fingerstyle, my callouses have come back.