Consultant at Big 4 or Next-tier Accounting Firms?

So I'm at an accounting job, only a few months removed from my 2.5 years as an auditor. I hated auditing and figured it was time to leave public accounting. However, I've found that I do not like this senior accountant road either. I miss the client interaction and that kind of lifestyle of moving from engagement to engagement.

I have looked at public accounting firms' advisory practices, specifcially in transaction services/due diligence, forensic accounting, & financial restructuring. The problem is that I think I'd like all 3 and would hope to have the chance to hop on some engagements within each sector early in my time there (obviously depending on the firm's staffing). I like in a moderate-sized city, but I do not think Big 4 maintain any of those practices within my city or if they do, they are small practices and I do not want to relocate. The second group of national accounting firms all seem to have practices within my city.

My question is, is the dropoff between the Big 4 firms compared to the second level of firms big? Does anyone have any experience at national firms that arent big 4? My old auditing firm is a regional firm so they dont have these huge practices within advisory.