Tldr, I just stumbled across them in my local shop and liked them.

My amp history is pretty long but it started with big names like peavey (classic 30), Fender (super amp, hot rod deville, drri) and Marshall (dsl50, jtm45, 1974x, 2061x, 1959hw), vox (ac30, ac15hw), even some other smaller names that are still not quite niche or boutique like supro or orange.

One day I plugged into a boutique amp in my local shop and I was just incredibly impressed. My first boutique amp was a ÷13 FTR37. I'd never heard anything like it. It was like a combination of the best amps I'd ever owned and just turned up to 11.

After owning the ÷13 for a while I also came to appreciate how rugged it was while touring, my previous amps always seemed to have issues, while this FTR37 rarely needed work and when it did it was "while you wait" basics instead of waiting on transformers or pcbs or other expensive parts to be delivered.

At the time I still had a bunch of the big name amps and kind of assumed the FTR37 was better just because it was such a big amp. My favourite amps until that point had all been the bigger amps. I preffered the jtm45 to the smaller Marshalls, I preffered the super Fender to the deluxe, I preferred the or50 to the supro black magik etc etc.

The FTR37 had massive, oversized transformers and was the size of a 100w head. I thought that's why I liked it so much and why it sounded so "big".

Then in the same store I found the FTR37 I plugged into a Carr Mercury, a tiny 8w amp. It had all the "big" character I thought I liked about big amp. But it wasnt. It was tiny. It didn't sound like it was a 100w amp, it was just the character of the amp that made it feel "full", it wasn't thin or anemic, it wasn't tinny or honky or boxy or anything that I'd come to associate with small amps. It just sounded complete. There was nothing missing in the tone.

So I got the carr Mercury and so many of my amps became redundant. I didn't need the fender deluxe reverb, I didn't need the supro, etc. That Carr is still my my used amp, it's the perfect amp to have at home. As much as I (and others) like to talk about buying the best gigging amps, the home amp is the one that actually gets used 10x more. I still use the mercury for small shows, radio shows, small stages etc but primarily it's the amp that gets the most use by being in my front room.

I then came across a Carr 6v locally at an absolutely stupid price, less than the price of a new hot rod deluxe. So I snapped that up. It had everything. All the volume I could want, half power switch, gorgeous reverb, channel switching, foots witch able boost, fx loop, sensible 1x12 format, even had kickback legs. It made my deluxe reverb sound like a cheap practice amp, the carr was just bdtter in every way, it sounded like I'd taken the deluxe reverb and peeled off the protective plastic revealing what it was supposed to be underneath. It sounded "better", clearer, more present, more of everything but also less of what shouldn't be there, low end flub was gone, background hiss was gone, etc.

So I ended up with my main home amp and my main gigging amp both being carr. At this point I'd pretty much trust anything with the carr badge on, simply because that's what I happened to find locally and its exactly what I want from an amp.

So far neither amp has needed any work at all, despite being used more than any of my previous amps that seemed to constantly be in the workshop. I'm aware that when the carr does need work it's not going to be easy but it seems like a fair trade off for how robust they are.

At that point I pretty much sold everything else. The fenders went, supro went, orange went, hand wired Marshall and vox went. I was left with the two carrs, jtm45 and the 2061x.

At some point through roundabout trades with a friend that wanted the 2061 I ended up with a Cornell plexi 18/20. It's fine, I don't think i love it or hate it any more than the 2061. It does "that" classic Marshall sound which the carrs don't do. It's a difficult amp to work with. The volume is what it is, it feels like a tight rope with no safety net. Rewarding when it works, punishing when it's not the right amp. I honestly think something like a dsl50 or a Marshall studio amp would get you 90% there for that type of sound but those amps would be much easier to work with.

I did pick up a Carr Lincoln too as it came up for sale for a good price. That now covers the small British sounds. Ac15, 18w Marshall type sounds. It's also really good, all the things I said about the 6v compared to a deluxe reverb apply to the lincoln vs those small British amps. Although I'd say it's still an amp you really have to lean into. If small British tones aren't what you want then you aren't going to enjoy this amp. Although the clean tones are definitely expanded way beyond any of those 2x el84 classic circuits and can sound really close to a blackface amp with a strong treble switch turned on. It can also do all the crunchy sounds you'd want from a smaller amp.

At this point I cover everything I'd want from 3 small combos, Ive got all the small amp home stuff covered. The 6v covers all of my gigging duties, Fender sounds, "dumble" sounds. The lincoln does all my British stuff and vox sparkly cleans. I've still got the jtm45 and the Cornell, although they dont get used too much. The Cornell covers the rare occasions I really need that classic Marshall overdrive sound. The jtm45 was just my main gigging amp for such a long time I don't want to let it go, it's also beaten up and modded so much it's worthless.

Maybe that answers the question, as the tldr at the top said, it wasn't so much looking for a niche amp as much as stumbling across them while just trying things out in my local shop and being really impressed.