i've already posted in this thread, but since it keeps popping up, i guess i will elaborate.
for the fender sound, i have a musicmaster. early 70's model. though it is simple, it sounds so sweet, and i have the original speaker AND tubes (the center plastic bit used to hold it steady is snapped off of one of the tubes unfortunately, so until i figure out how to fake it, i have
a ruby tube filling its spot. too much noise from the tube rattling, though it might make for an interesting recording-it makes a sort of tinkling sound). my dad is collecting vibro champs-i think he has 3 and 4th regular champ-he wants to get 4 in a row with delays set up like brian may's setup with queen on a smaller scale. those things sound freakin' sweet! my fave is definately the bassman/bandmaster though. i like a lot of bass, as much as many guitarists shun it. i think that while the stronger lows of such an amp can make it a little more complex to mix the guitar with the bass properly, tone is tone and a full recording requires finding balance wherever possible rather than at the detriment of any particular sound. good sounds together (perhaps with a little compromise) = more good sound, providing that everyone involved has a decent ear and patience.
my fave on the poll list is definately mesa boogie-i just love the bloody things. i don't have a mesa amp right now, but i'm strongly considering
a v-twin because it does such a good job at handling the mesa preamp stage. gobs of tone. i even had my peavey rage (surprisingly loud for such a small amp, but not a lot of great tone) sounding good through that thing. i don't think the mesa sound is for everyone, but i love it.
i have a PRS harmonic tone generator halfstack that sounds amazing for a solid state amp (these guys weren't screwing around when they designed it, though there weren't many made) and i think i will end up sticking with it for most higher-db uses. only 70 watts, but at that point, you're probably looking at reinforcement to get much bigger soundwise.
i've always liked marshalls, but not enough to buy one over a boogie or a fender. my marshall guv'nor through my musicmaster sounds marshallish enough for me.
crate and peavey have both made a glut of crappy-sounding amps, but i love certain tube models from both companies (i tend to lean toward dual-stage tube amps as far as sound goes, regardless of manufacturer-i like a short signal chain and an as-designed sound typically, though i do run distortion and EQ through my musicmaster for heavier stuff). my crate vc20 is deleriously heavy for a small amp, and seems to be extremely well-built, though i haven't opened it up to specifically examine it yet. most of the peaveys i've messed with have been very tough, though i haven't played with more recent models. i usually play through vintage stuff.
