Hi Blaqdog: but honestly, we could spend the next 20 pages with everyone telling you which brand they personally support, like it's their football team.

What nobody will seriously disagree with is that you've gotta get to some music stores and try them out for yourself. I think the difference between amps is far bigger than between guitars, and what's good for someone is useless for someone else.

It don't matter a pile of dingos' kidneys what some famous players use: it's what it sounds like with your hands and ears that counts.
Cheers - C

I know the best sounding amp is going to be subjective, but I have three in mind right now: Marshall, Vox, and ENGL. I like Marshall mainly 'cause it's used a lot by many artists, but I like it specifically because Hendrix and Trower. Vox I like because I like the jangly clean tones that it produces and Brian may uses it. ENGL is cool because, well it sounded versatile and I believe a fairly new guitarist Orianthi uses it. I was also thinking mesa boogie, but all I can think of is Santana which is great also. Yes the tube amps are what I'm going for. My ideal: I like something that can produce jangly cleans with good distortion for hard rock.

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I'll chime in only because I have some experience with lots of different amps in various forms. I currently use older Carvin X100B's (heads with 4x12 cabs). I absolutely love them, because they have two channels, with a parametric eq and an assignable, 5 band graphic eq. This allows you to dial in nearly any tone you want. The clean channel is very comparable to Fender's (which I also like VERY much), and the lead channel is very simialr to Marshall and Mesa's. The foot pedal typically has three switches, channel, effects loop/boost, and reverb. The boost function is AWESOME for cutting through with leads. For the type of music you mentioned (which is quite similar to what I play), these amps are perfect. There is a reissue available that is nearly as good (better in some aspects), but a fuzzy covered, EL34 loaded head can be had on the 'bay for a quite reasonable amount. I would recommend you try one if you can find it, or at least do some research on them; but I must agree, you have to make the choice using your ears and your guitar. Any of us can make a demo, put it up for you to listen, and you may like it, but that will not guarantee the tone you'll get with your own axe/effects/fingers.

Don't just buy a amp because a famous artist uses it. Go out and try out several before you make your choice and then decide what you're truly going to be happy with.