The ESP Guitar Company

Ok, so I'm in a spot of BIG decision making.

Up until tonight, I was pretty much set on the Vetta II - 2 amps at once, presets, every effect known to man integrated and adjustable...everything you need, really. The main appeal was the integrated effects combined with presets - instead of tap dancing to get a completely new sound, just change presets.

That was, until tonight. Y'see, at college one of the rooms has just been kitted out with some AMAZING gear! There is:

Ibanez Thermion halfstack
Ibanez Toneblaster halfstack
Laney GH100L halfstack
Laney GH100TI halfstack
Laney Lionheart 20H & 2x12 cab

Its the last one that's really blown me away. The clean channel is just gorgeous, and the drive is really sweet - there isn't too much gain, and there isn't too little. Plus - this is the best part - seeming as I was in that room for the weekly Metal Workshop, I decided to see how it would do.

OH DEAR.

This is a vintage styled 20W Class A amplifier. With the gain to the max, it was like a brutal, fat, punchy marshall, with a little more fatness and puch added for good measure. I had the mids down to zero, and it still had a gut punch I haven't felt since I cranked the mids on my Mesa.

But review aside, I've never ever wanted an amp this badly. At first I was going for practicality over sound, because in all fairness the Vetta II can sound good with the right tweakage, and 99.9% of your audience will never care. But it can never sound this good.

So here's my thoughts: If I can find a suitable effects integration for the Lionheart that won't suck too much tone and will be practical enough that I'm not tap dancing, the Vetta money will be redirecting itself straight to Laney's pockets.

At the moment I'm using the Line6 4-button stompers, because they're versatile and sound really nice. They're in front of the amp. I have a TC Electronics G-sharp at the moment, but for the loop-based effects (more delays, lush chorus, etc) I'm thinking something a bit higher in the scale - A G-major possibly? Anybody have reccomendations for loop-effects units?

My current defense against tone sucking consists of EMG pickups and a Loop-master 3-loop...erm loop switcher. Also running in front of the amp I'll have an overdrive, compressor and noise gate (all Boss at the moment, may upgrade later on).

So basically, to cut a really long post short, if you were an effects junkie who couldn't ever afford a G-system, how would you do it? Any ideas are welcome, thanks ;)