I have been a true blue tube amp man for well over 20 years now, but I must say that I am very impressed with the sound of the Line 6 stuff. I think it is as close to a tube sound as you can get from something that doesn't have a single tube in it. Check out some of the sound samples on the Line 6 website. Those Spider II's are a big upgrade from the original Spider series, and the II's are less money than the original.