And yet I get sh*t from you and to some extent Rob for my choice.

Hey, don't take his comments too personally. :-) I don't know why, but us "Guys" seem to get defensive when faced with even the slightest possibility that we might have made an incorrect purchasing decision. A wise person once said, "Women get technical about emotional things. Men get emotional about technical things."

As for what Rob said, he was simply defending Empeg's ratio of features to price. I don't think he was giving you any shit. But you're right, I was only looking for information on what else was out there. I didn't intend to start a flame war by beginning the thread. So far, this BBS has been pretty well-behaved. I'd hate to see a flame war erupt on a thread that I started. :-)