I've got a roomful of tube amps of all vintages, so I would expect to be real biased (pun intended) towards tubes. But I have to say the Vox Valvetronix is possibly the 'best' solid state amp I've played. I think I read these have an output transformer, which is always rumored to be a secret ingredient for tube amps to having 'that sound'. I don't know if all the models have OPT's, or just the one model, but whatever I played, it was a really great sounding amp. I know they start from a one 8" speaker model (Nooooo!) for something like $170 up to a 2 x 12" model for $550, so there ought to be a model for your budget. I know the Frontman is only $120 or even less, so maybe think about the Vox VT40+ if you wait and save twice the money you would have wasted on the Frontman? You get twice the power, some effects, and some modeling, with at least one 12AX7 as I recall.