Do your absolute damndest to get a Marshall DFX100 second hand from E-Bay if necessary. The amp itself is quite reasonable new - $350 to $400 in the shops so you should get a second hand for about $200. The tone is Marshall all the way and the built in effects are very nice indeed. Another thing, it's 100 watts which is more than enough for playing with a drummer. There are loads of amps out there but I just think the DFX100 is the best value for money, it's a bloody Marshall after all;-)

Just noticed that you like shred and 80's metal... man this amp is perfect for that. I just used it in the studio mic'ed up with a SM57, cranked to about 8 to hit the sweet spot and the sound was amazing. There is no need to use any distortion pedals with this baby. It's got a very tight sound, even when I plugged in my 7 string on a high gain setting for rhythmic chops (tight inthe Marshall but it fell apart when I played it through my Mesa rig). I used to only use it for jamming and was a bit of a Mesa snob but I have new found respect for this amp following my recent session. If you're interested in the sound let me know and I'll PM you when I post the track later this week.