Originally Posted by: 3fingeredblues... Check out the LoneStar series, the Road King series is riduculously versatile (why bother with digital when you can get a plethora of tones with tubes?) ... [/QUOTE]Exactly! I use Magnavox-era (1970's) V-series Ampegs for just that reason. A very wide palette of great tones, with any guitar, and if you just gotta use pedals, old Ampegs love 'em. A digital 'model' is a second-hand approximation that was created by an engineer who may well have tin ears when it comes to identifying good tone! :p

Originally Posted by: 3fingeredblues... Of course these are out of the price range for our friend seeking advice.[/QUOTE][QUOTE=3fingeredblues]How about an example of something better in this price range Lord? instead of just dogging a product you don't care for? I would really like to see your opinion on what you would recomend, other than "anything but Crate".

[font=trebuchet ms]Which is why in an earlier post I said...

[QUOTE=Lordathestrings][font=trebuchet ms]I think the best amps on the planet today are Magnavox Ampeg amps built in the 70's. Any of them. And even the 120 Watt VT-22 combos and V-4 heads routinely sell for under US$500....

It's not a matter of tube vs. transistor. I sold one of my Ampeg G-18 1x8" combos (another Magnavox model) to a friend who records with it because it sounds at least as good as his tube amp. No bells or whistles, just great tone.[/font]