I don't have a decent set of adornments for solo play, as I'm geared for raid and group play mostly (i solo fine anyways).
I've played both Bruiser and Brigand, and I can say from experience it's far easier to solo as the Bruiser. Maybe with wicked heal poisons and master spells and full AA's, and the perfect strat, you can solo things as a brigand that a Bruiser would have a tough time or even fail against...
However, where Brigands get all these special abilities that debuff mobs so you can do more damage, Bruisers get a bunch of special abilities to survive.
I can't count how many times FD, Close Mind, and Stonedeaf have allowed me to solo situations, or get to a point where I can solo a named without adds, etc. I could say my Coercer can solo nearly anything in the game as long as I can stun/root or mez it... however that doesn't mean it's the most efficient, quick, or even fun.
And as for Duoing named... unless it's some special one that still has uber avoidance cutting attacks, Bruiser will survive a lot better and bring plenty of DPS to the table to kill the mob fast. I duo with my wife's warden all the time. Defensive stance + Primal Instinct = full avoidance with 99% landing hits... that's a very good combo.