Originally Posted by: 3fingeredbluesMesa Boogie makes more than just the rectifier models....they also make some smokin' low to high gain amps that are incredibly versatile. Go check there website and look at the different models they offer. They are not a one trick company. 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?) and the old HeartBreaker amps are classic sounding british tone. Of course these are out of the price range for our friend seeking advice.

ok, well, I was just using that as an example, as when people usually think mesa, they think high gain... plus, the only mesa that I have ever played through was a triple recto, so I don't know what the others sound like (and yes, I did know that they exist)

personally, I would take a high end tube amp over my spider II, but I'm not going to get a high end tube amp for $200 am I? honestly, playing my OD-20 pedal (which uses COSM modeling) through my spider II's clean channel, I can get some seriously awesome tones. better tones then I've gotten out of anything short of a $1500 tube half stack (marshall JCM2000 TSL100, and mesa triple recto for high gain stuff) the tones really are much better then you would think would come out of modelling units... ok, I will admit that I wasn't a big fan of the tone of my spider II before buying that pedal. but the two combined make some awesome tones. the MT-2, crunch, DS-1, and OD-2 settings are my favorite.