I recently bought a very nice Gibson SG Diablo! The dealer at the shop asked if I had a nice tube amp to play it thru. I told him the amps I hade and he was like, "Dude, you have GOT to get a good tube to play that thru."
While I was at the shop, I plugged that SG into several tube amps, large ones, and I was completely blown away! However, having just purchased a quite spendy axe, I refrained from spending another grand on a rightious amp.
When I took the SG home and played on my Valvestate, and Line6, I was like pfft. NOTHING but a tube is really gonna make this sing! I had my taiste of blood so to speak.
I went back to the shop a few days later to see what I could find. I had heard about this little Vox amp, and the little Fender Champion. SO i tried them both out. The Fender was about 150. and the Vox was about 240. The Vox seemed FAR superior in every way.
The tone was crystal clear, just like the huge, expensive setups, except maybe a little less bassy (smaller speaker and cab). Cranking it up was surprisingly loud for 4 watts. Also by cranking it, you get that destictive tube grit! The attenuator is an awesome touch. You can cut the amps power down from 4, to 1 or even 1/4 watt. You can still get that overdriven tube sound without disturbing the peace.
The vintage coloring is a nice touch too. However the rubberized simulated tweed athough durable im sure, looks a little too fake and "plasticy". A gain and reverb setting would have been nice, but you can put pedals behind it for that.
All in all, if you are serious about playing, and serious about sound, go ahead and spend a little more for this thing. You will be VERY glad you did. It is sturdy, versitile and VERY pro sounding. Even when you "grow up" as a player, you will likely start gigging or something and need something with more juice. But I am sure you will keep this baby around for practice at home or back stage. It will certainly last!
Go try one, once you go tube, you will never go back!