Definitely I'd go with the Line 6 Spder II series. check em out. alot of metal players use em:

http://www.line6.com/spiderii/

those amps are the amps i wish i would have bought. there are many different versions so i'd do some researching. with these spider II amps, the more expensive, the better. so you might wanna squeeze in some cash.

with your price range, I'd squeeze in $50 more to get the HD75. 75 watts is plenty of watts. plenty. especially for a first amp. you can play that thing live on stage if you want. and it has alot more features than the 30. I'd definitely get the HD75.