Please help with amps - Ibanez vs Fender vs Marshall

So here's the deal.
I'm buying my younger brother (13 yrs old) an amp for Christmas. I am not a guitarist, but I'm a big geek with audio toys.
My brother owns an Ibanez RG-270 and he plays a lot of rock. He's gotten really into playing and it's pretty much become his passion.
I've been asking around forums for some good amps between $100-$400 and I've gotten a chance to listen to a few off the net and in-store. I'm down to a few, so I'm asking for help.

My brother is requesting an Ibanez TB100R, but in all honesty he's just being a brand loyalist. He is really wanting something with good tone control and sound quality. The only judgement I had was on sound quality because for the rest, I don't know enough about what a guitarist looks for. He's in NY, and I'm in Florida so I can't actually go to the store with him. So I'm down to a few and would like some help. I am adding my impression with them, but I'm 100% open to suggestions and comments.

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Fender FM212R - $300; I prefer the sound quality of this over the others. Seems like it has more than enough power to suit his needs. $100 less than Ibanez TB100R and overall better.

Ibanez TB50R - $250; I have not listened to this amp. Same like TB100R but 50watts instead of 100w and NO reverb, but pretty cheap.
Ibanez TB100R - $370; For the price, I found Fender and Marshall to be of better quality.

Marshall MG30DFX/MG50DFX - $250/$350; Very highly regarded from other people. Listened to it online so I didn't get a chance to get a real feel for it. The only difference on paper between the 30 and 50 is the power and the 30 doesn't have reverb. But 50 watts seems good for most indoor needs (would you agree?)

I'm leaning more towards the Fender FM212R or Marshall MG50DFX. Please, I would appreciate any comments and help. Thank you guys.

Hi There.

Ibanez amps (in my opinion) are much worse than the Fenders or Marshalls that you are looking at.
Secondly...damn I wish I had a brother like you.

I personally have not played the Fender that you mention, but the Marshall Mg50 amps are really good deals for the price you pay.
I would go with the Mg50 if I were you...this amp should be big enough for club gigs etc, so he wont "outgrow" this amp too soon. I am also not sure what the Marshall AVT50 amps cost there ( In the States), but If you can afford one of those, your brother will be calling you "sir" for years to come.

I'm beginning to think Marshall is the way to go, huh? The Fender seemed nice to me, but everyone is acclaiming Marshall more. I will keep this in mind.

I find Marshalls to have hella better distortion than Fenders or Ibanez amps. I prefer Fender's clean tone over Marshall's, but I use my distorted channel more than my clean, so I would go with the Marshall personally.

I myself own a Peavey KB/A. What?! I have a keyboard/acoustic amp? Yup, that's right. I originally bought it to amplify my keyboard, but I tried playing my guitar through it, and it sounds great. Not alone, mind you. There's no built in distortion (it's an acoustic amp). I go from my guitar to my RP200 multi-effects pedal, then to the amp. This is a great combo. I can get killer distortion through the RP200 as well as excellent frequency response all around the board from the amp (it's designed for keyboard, which go both lower and higher than guitars normally do). Now that's a badass combo (and it's loud enough to play a small auditorium (~700 people).

Most definitely what ever you do, stay away from the Ibenhad amps (that's right, I said Ibenhad)...

Out of the 3 you said, the Marshall is probably the best for the buck...
I am going to throw one more amp at you though, well worth absolutely every penny....

http://www.line6.com/spiderII/home.asp

Check out the Spider II amps, starting at $299. YOU can have both the Fender and Marshall in that one, because it is a modeler with tons of tones. I personally favor tube amps myself, but if I were going to buy a new amp, this is the one I would buy. Very affordable at that price also...

i agree with hairbndrckr, a friend of mine just got one...will i prefer tube amps with other effects, that one is a sure buy for the price range.

Originally posted by hairbndrckr
Most definitely what ever you do, stay away from the Ibenhad amps (that's right, I said Ibenhad)...

Out of the 3 you said, the Marshall is probably the best for the buck...
I am going to throw one more amp at you though, well worth absolutely every penny....

http://www.line6.com/spiderII/home.asp

Check out the Spider II amps, starting at $299. YOU can have both the Fender and Marshall in that one, because it is a modeler with tons of tones. I personally favor tube amps myself, but if I were going to buy a new amp, this is the one I would buy. Very affordable at that price also...

*shakes fist* Leave Ibanez alone!!!!! :)

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Marshall is the way to go especially if he likes rock or metal. You can get a Marshall MGdfx amp in that budget, I would advise the all in one amp rather than the head and cabinet combo. FOr the money the tone is great, may not sound like a tube JCM800 through a stereo cab but it defeinitely sounds like Marshall. Among my manyu toys I have a MArshall 100MGdfx, 100 wats which is plenty loud to play with metal drummer and it comes with a pedal to flick the built in effects on and off (reverb, flanger, chorus) and to flick between the clean and dirty channels. Fender make nice amps but they are very shrill and have poor gain settings - as far as crunchy metal tones go. With the above amp he will be sorted for anything from blues to metal and everything in between for the next 5 years.

Originally Posted by: Superhuman.... With the above amp he will be sorted for anything from blues to metal and everything in between for the next 5 years.

hmm... considering that this thread is 5 years old... :rolleyes:

Hehe yup.. the thread was only revived because of some spammer trying to evade the radar by spamming on an old thread.

:o Ooops! Well I suppose its time for him to upgrade to that Marshall stack now!