wtf? no fair. back in my day, our parents didn't lend us money to buy new gear, we had to go get jobs......... oh wait, we still are back in my day. yeah. my mom once told me she would lend me $700 to buy a marshall MG100DFX stack, because playing at band practice/shows with my 15W johnson wasn't cutting it. then my dad stepped in, said "no way jose" and so I had to use close to every penny I had saved up in the bank to buy a fender fm212r instead. loud little devil that amp was. anyways, I don't think I'll ever buy a $1000+ guitar, especially a gibson, it's just so overpriced. as long as you are going to be spending that kind of money, I would sooner go to a luthier and have one custom built to my exact specifications, and it would probably cost less then $2000. probably more in the $1000-1500 range, depending on how fancy I want it... anyways, I hope that the marshall stack you are getting is at least a tube amp, if not, then don't get it. if you were going to get the MG100DFX, which is like $700, don't. use that $700 and get yourself a tube combo, I can guarentee it will sound better, and probably be just as loud, if not louder. I love my peavey XXX super 40 EFX to death, and I got it for $500.. it was on sale though, it usually costs $950.. but you could always even get one of those marshall JCM combo amps.. though it'll probably be more then $700..