Electric Guitar needed in my budget.

[Mike_J]

A list of gear and influences is a good starting point but do what Ralpheo suggested. Anything we say here doesn't mean shit till you go into a store and try everything you possibly can. Everyone plays different no matter what gear they have. If I had done that, I wouldn't have ended buying so many shit amps and guitars.
M

 

[Milnoque]

That Crate V18-212 is a good amp and reasonably priced. It may be more amp than you need though. The problem with getting too much amp is you can't crank 'em enough to let the tubes sing. I used to use a Peavey Classic 30 for a while. that's another good amp. 1X12 30 watts. It sounded great, but only at a volume too loud to be useful to me. With twice the speaker surface area that Crate will be even louder. In the real world you may not get to use it turned up past 3. If you're playing with a loud drummer though, it may be about right. IMHO you'll be happier with a lower power amp. 12 - 18 watts in a tube amp is plenty for most applications, Go higher with solid state.