any audiophile guitarists out there?

Kijanki, One of my modellers is a Vox Tonelab. It has the ability to model various amps, pedals, cabinets etc. I used to own a Line6 Pod v2, which IMHO is very limited and sounds much worse than the Tonelab. However, I have never used a modeller that really comes that close to the real thing.. i.e.,A Fender Tweed from the 50's has a tone that is to die for, the modeller's repro of this amp is really a joke when you do an AB.
I think if I were to get another amp, my #1 choice would be a Princeton or Deluxe Tweed folowed by a Black Face Super Reverb. All are amps that sound truly magnificent, IMHO.

Daveyf - I started with classical Cordoba R40 and took some lessons then bought Martin D15 to follow by used cheap Silvertone copy of Les Paul (changing pickups to Seymour Duncan Jazz and JB) plus mentioned Valvetronix and finally Ibanez Soungear SR300DX 4 string bass and 100W Carvin bass combo.

Now I don't know what to do with all this since I lost interest. I still play very simple classical a little and hope to start basic bass lessons but most likely it will all end-up in hands of my grandson (currently 5).

I agree that modeling doesn't come close to original thing. Fender Tweed was great but I thought once of finding original 30W VOX (that Beatles played). Tube amp with no feedback, Alnico magnet speakers etc. It amazes me that early rock bands played out with 30W combos while power now is often in kW.

Kijanki,
I would suggest that you go to a local guitar shop and play a Fender Strat or a Tele or a real Gibson Les Paul; Once you pick up one of these and play a few notes, you may re-consider. If not, well so be it, you will then notice that one of the nice things about good musical equip is that it holds its value very well. I would expect that you should be able to get back most, if not all, that you paid for the Martin, as an example.

Anyone ever try this dumb trick - before you were old enough to know better, of course - cutting a guitar cable and rigging it to RCA jacks and then running it through a hi-fi amp? I'm fairly sure those old speakers were never intended to be played directly with a distortion pedal.

Daveyf - Martin is probably the only one that is worth more used than I paid for new - everything else would be a loss. To me Martin and Les Paul (Silvertone made by Samick is decent) are part of history and I really enjoy having them. Strats, having longer scale, have a little bit better definition but I don't mind. McCartney played this super short scale Hoffner before he got wise and switched to long scale Ricekenbacker (starting with Penny Lane).

Samick makes 500,000 guitars a year. Epiphone, Gretsch, Bennet, Washburn are made by Samick. Completely automated and pretty good quality. Often price difference is only name on the headstock. My Silvertone looks and sounds the same as Epiphone (might be same guitar). Gibson is of higher quality but for 10x the cost.