Quote from Forum Archives on September 23, 2008, 8:35 am

Posted by: twheeler <twheeler@...>

Hi folks,

Haven't been terribly active on the list lately, though I've enjoyed
reading notes as they've come through from time to time.

Anyways, seems as though I'm playing less and less in "big church"
these days but instead am spending time with the youth. The youth
band at our church has traditionally been composed of, well, youth.
Most all of the band members graduated last year and headed off to
school though, so now the kids are stuck with this 38-year old guy
trying to figure out what to do with them.

I'd thought about getting a mohawk or something, but then a slightly
more practical idea hit me. I bought myself a relatively basic
electric guitar (used, off eBay).

So, I played electric stuff a lot some 20 years ago. Had the Marshall
stack (all tube, of course), a nice assortment of pedals, so on and so
forth. I used to be good at getting the sound I wanted. Since then
I've dabbled with electrics on a couple of brief occasions. The
recent ventures into "plugged in land" both included a Pod XT Live. I
went that route because it was versatile, affordable, and easy to lug
around. It also overcame the potential problem of a loud amp on stage.

The only problem is I hated the Pod. I didn't hate the device itself,
I could, with effort, get it to sound alright. I'm just not the kind
of guy that likes to fiddle with the seemingly millions of buttons,
knobs, settings, etc. I want to plug in and play. I understand old
school amps, but I don't think I want to make that sort of investment
OR be stuck lugging a 2x12 with tubes around.

I'll be playing stuff ranging from U2 sounds, Third Day, Tomlin, and
probably a few others.

So, what do I purchase to go with the guitar?

Options I've thought of:

Go with the Pod despite my previous experience. Find a couple of
factory presets that are "good enough" and leave the thing alone.

Go with the Vox ToneLab LE. Similar to the Pod, but seems a little
simpler. Also has good reviews on the tube pre which seems to be
unique to that unit.

Go with a Vox AD50VT (or similar) hybrid amp. Kind of big & heavy,
but could be worse. Fewer presets to monkey with, but not quite as
versatile as the first two choices.

Go with something else I haven't though of...

So, give me some feedback. I'd like to keep this purchase in the $500
(or less range). I'm not opposed to buying used. That said, I'd
spend more if I really needed to.

Thanks!

Trey