I say go with a pure tube amp, i.e. no modeling instead of one with all the bells and whistles. I have used the tube Vypyr and it does sound nice (better than the solid state version), but its pretty much a stand alone unit, and you have to get the Sanpera pedal for it if you would like it to be versatile. I'd take it over comparable Line6 units simply because its way more reliable.
But heres the thing about pure tube amps: if you're playing with high gain, they have to be turned up to sound good. If you're playing a 100w head with the volume around 1 or 2 its not gonna sound that good. Once you turn up a tube amp past 4 you will see what all the hype is about
And by the way, tube amps are LOUD. A 100w tube amp at around 4 will completely drown out any 100w solid state head thats fully cranked. However, I must say from my experience the tube Vypyrs actually sounded ok at low volumes.
So it all depends on what you use it for, if its just bedroom level practicing, 60w of tube power maybe too much. In fact a 100w head probably only puts out about 5 more db of actual volume than a 50 or 60 watt unit. The Vypyr actually works pretty well as just a practice amp, its got pretty much everything you need in it. I like the tube version of it because it smooths out the digital aspect of the amp.
So anyways, if you could tell us exactly what you plan on using it for, we can give you a more concise answer
You are at GuitarMasterClass.net
Don't miss today's
free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with
free content!