I'm in the yes camp. Reason being is that for me, among the different types of pedals, dirt boxes are the most important and most crucial for electric guitar playing. Para kasi sa akin, hindi lang sound yung basehan kundi yung response ng pedal lalo kung volume pot rider yung player specially those who are into blues/blues-rock/classic rock. Usually naman, yun ang target market ng mga boutique companies. So I guess depende sa tugtugan.
I saw a lot of replies that they'd rather save up for an amp if the expenses would be beyond 4k. Matagal nako wala jan sa Pinas(pauwi-uwi na lang) pero dati natatandaan ko, most nung mga kilala ko na gigging musicians, backline amps lang ang nagagamit nila. I would want to enjoy my tone at all volumes hindi lang pag naka-crank yung amp.
May nagsabi rin na bibili na lang sila ng tubes. In my experience when I had my THD Flexi 50 Head, minimal lang ang changes na kayang i-offer ng tubes sa sound, believe it or not. For those who are not familiar with that amp, it can accept most types of tubes for power and preamps so medyo nagexperiment din ako. On my 3rd set of tubes, narealize ko na nagbabago lang ng konti yung feel but the sound still remains bascially the same kasi nga same cicruit pa rin naman. Meron lang konting higpit sa bass, etc. na kaya naman habulin sa EQ. Honestly, kung nasa bahay ka lang and you don't play above vacuum-cleaner levels of decibels, hindi mo maappreciate ng husto yung value ng power tubes. And that is kung designed pa yung tube amp mo na magbreak ng maaga. Pano na lang kung 100w pa yung amp mo?
