Thinking about buying an amp... have a question for you

[timthetortoise]

Theres also..the factor of hey..i dont wanna drop ___ amount of money on an amplifier, if im just chilling around playing guitar. hah. And Im talking about using just an ac30, without pedals in front of it...anything can sound like w/e with x-number of pedals in front of it...but if u want something in that price range that delivers without the need of pedals...i say again, go with a modeling amp like a line 6 whos metal distortion is awesome, and whos amps are in a 100-300 dollar range of someone who doesnt wanna drop a ton of cash on an amp.

Aside from Flextone II HDs, I have never heard a decent Line 6 high gain model.
I'd personally recommend getting a decent clean amp, and then trying out some distortion pedals to go in front of it. Onboard distortion in your range is, most of the time, going to sound terrible and getting natural distortion in the fashion you're looking for would take a lot of volume unless you have an attenuator. Personally, I think you'd do well with a Valve Junior and a Boss Metalzone (a lot of people hate them, but it was one of the most flexible distortion pedals I've ever used. 3 band EQ with sweepable mids is great). The thing you need to do is go to a few stores and try some amps out, see which one is right for you. If the one that's right is a bit above your price range, then wait until you can afford it. There's no reason in spending money on an amp you're just settling for.

 

[capnkid]

Well, if you want to to the solid state thing, I would go for a peavey bandit II, the one with the red stripe across the front.
I heard it was modeled after the 5150, I had one and it sounded nice.