Yea. I'd say no to the Line 6. Sure it's cool to have all the effects and modeling right there but as you mature and get better and your ears become more sensitive to tone and dynamics and response, you'll appreciate a tube amp much more. I expect that you'd grow bored with the Line 6 after a bit. Get a nice little Fender tube amp and gradually get some high quality pedals. It'll be a rig that you can grow into.

I own a spider 3 150 and you guys that talk about tube tone being better are either OLD or read to many amp advertisements. I watched a video of 20 people, musicians and non musicians doing a blind test on what sounds better, modeling or tube and the modeling won by 1. That said I am not saying either is better just that it is a personal preference. Almost all the distortion presets on the spider I dislike but I get amazing tones with both clean and distortion sounds with a bit of fiddleing around.
When I bought the amp I spent 3 hours playing between a Mesa Boogie and The spider 3. I went with the intention to buy the Mesa and walked out with the Spider III. The reason was that the sound was so close that for the amout of money I saved I could get another guitar and I had a wealth of amp and effect models to use also.
Bottom line is buy what sounds good to you and has a lot to offer. Also remember that there is more TONE in your fingers then the amp. Look at some famous players setups and you will find that the ones that use the same gear all sound greatly different. The Spider III is great and well worth the money. I have never had any problems with it

"I own a spider 3 150 and you guys that talk about tube tone being better are either OLD or read to many amp advertisements. I watched a video of 20 people, musicians and non musicians doing a blind test on what sounds better, modeling or tube and the modeling won by 1. That said I am not saying either is better just that it is a personal preference"

It's really NOT about sound so much as "feel". I can tell the difference (blindfolded) between a tube and SS by the reaction of the amp and the "feel" of that reaction. A GOOD SS amp can (and many do) sound better than a mediocre tube amp but they do not have the same reaction or "feel" to the changes in pick attack etc..

"Also remember that there is more TONE in your fingers then the amp."
yes and no. Again, depends on the amp and the skill of the player. If that statement was an absolute then my Fenders would sound exactly like my Marshall. My Strat like my 335.

I am against Spider. Maybe I just didn't like it myself, but I think it's kind of a toy.
It responses in a strange way for different articulating techniques, for ex. vibrato or palm muting
(strange way - I mean there is no fast and warm reaction for vibrating, palm muted notes are "dry", hope You know what I mean).

If i could recommend something different, I ask: what kind of music do You want to play using this amp?
How much money can You spend for amp? You prefer head+cabinet or combo? Tube or transistor?

My favorite amp ever is a Fender Twin reverb tube amp, but I now own a Line 6 Spider and love it for what I do, which is jam in my bonus room. I can't say what it would do in a gig situation but for all practical purposes I think it was a good buy. One thing I will say is that it has 3 or 4 distortion settings and I still play the clean channel with an old DOD heavy metal petal when I want to get dirty.
If you can find a used tube amp in good shape at a good price you can't go wrong either. Good Luck

look into a fender hot rod deluxe i have one and i love it so much

as was allready sort of stated, it comes down to applications. as is the case with a lot of solid states amps, they just don't tend to cut it in the band scenario. that ultra buzz distortion that sounds so good in the bedroom gets completely buried when played with other instruments(drums,bass,another guitarist). the solid state sound just doesn't cut thru hard enough in a band environment. you end up turning it up as loud as it will go and still can't cut thru. even with mids cranked all the way up. now that isn't the end all of solid state. i have used several solid states with a 4x12 and have had success cutting thru. but you really have to cut back on the gain and clear up the sound to be able to be heard with a band. and that is the real secret to the live sound......less overall gain. we all know how much better clean sounds cut thru the mix. even on solid states. it just sounds much louder. just the nature of the frequencies. and forget about running distortion pedals thru solid states amps. it's just complete overkill and more often then not just turns to mud.

and that is what makes tube amps so applealing. you can creat a nice creamy distortion tone that will keep you well in the mix,bandwise. and tube amps tend to respond to distortion pedals,whas,overdrives,and the like, much better than solid states.

that being said,should you decide to go tube,keep in mind that you don't NEED a hight WATT tube amp. many 10 to 20 watt tube amps can peel the paint right of the wall(VOLUME WISE). and with lower wattage tube amps you can really crank 'em up to get to that sweet saturation point without be so loud as to have the cops at your door every hour.

in all reality,the best situation is to have a small solid state amp for home practice and a nice tube amp for the live scenario. with that in mind i would suggest a nice little microcube amp. it's got plenty of effects on it and a bunch of pretty cool models,is very lightweight(good for a quickie jam at a neighbor's house),and even runs on batteries should you want to go outside with it or to the park or whatever. and it's cheap around $120 or cheaper(ebay???)

as for a tube amp, knowing what kind of music you are gonna play will help narrow down your selection ideas from folks here. fender does NOT particularly make a very good amp for metal, for clean and blues with overdrive it's awesome. but for heavy, bass oriented ,thumpin metal you will want to look at the mesa's or marshall's...peavey makes several good metal amps with the 6105(old 5150). and there are a ton of other good ones as well. Orange has a neat little head called the tiny terror that runs between 7 and 14 watts. all tube. no bigger than a lunchbox. but i suggest going and trying a bunch out before settling on one. once you find one with the crunch you are looking for, you may want to peruse ebay to see if you can get the same design for cheaper.....

oh and i would take a pass on the spider. good for the bedroom, but just too expensive for just home practice and not really good in the band scenario either....

I agree the spider series isn't all its cracked up to be, if your a bedroom player then it will likly serve your needs, but if you plan on doing anything else it just won't cut it, my biggest problem with the spider series is once you get past 10 o'clock with the volume it just becomes unusable and sounds like eggs frying in a pan. Maybe look for a used flextone, better tech.

also you could check out the spider-valve series, tube power section spider front-end.....

I just can't agree with those against the spider III. I own the 150 watt 2x12 combo and if you take some quality time you will get the tone you want. Keep in mind you guys that your settings for home won't cut it on stage because of the laws physics and sound waves (Fletcher Munsen curve). You NEED to have different presets for when the volume is cranked otherwise you will just distort. That is the laws of physics not the amps quality

Also saying that solid state doesn't cut through in a band situation is silly. Dimebag Darrell used randal solid state amps for the entire span of Pantera and only switched to Krank because he felt they were the only ones to be able to have the cut of solid state in a tube amp.

Again it comes down to your own individual ears liking but don't say it sucks cuz it is digital or solid state. I just came from the music store this morning and played a spider valve 212 and I didn't like it very much because the presence dial added something wierd to my ears. It is the exact processor as my spider 3 with the same presets it just sounded crap to me. Also there are many Major bands using the Vetta's by Line 6, they are solid state. Finger 11, Meshuggah, Radio Head, NIN