[nedorama]

Originally Posted by kafka

Gotta try it for yourself. There's no other way. Just walk into your local music store and crank it up.

Yeah, I'd love an older VHT or a Fryette. Drool city. The 2150 with a Bogner Fish is a classic combination. Maybe pair it with a Mesa Quad, too. Oh, boy! Now that's a good time!

Agreed - talking about amps is like dancing about architecture - you may get a little bit of it, but nothing will replace you playing the amps in your style with your settings.

Lot of good suggestions here, but one I haven't seen is on a piece of gear you have - if you're looking at any of these high end amps, please, please dump the sonic maximizer, AKA the Sonic Crapulizer. This is a very low-end piece of gear that doesn't belong in your signal chain once you have a great amp - you'll be amazed at the tone you get just from the amp and cabinet. This is a holdover piece of gear from the 80's when speakers were ineffecient. Sell it or use it as a doorstop, but don't let it into your signal path.

If you don't go the recording pre option, you can get full-bore tones for recording (or PA) from a Palmer speaker simulator - it's what Satriani, Stones, etc. use for both live and recording. Here's the link - JAMS Audio - Nashville, TN. Note that you need a load box to do this - you can't just use any box to play your amp head without speakers, but this does work and it works great.

Where are you located? May allow people to suggest some dealers that would be worth it to check out.