Alesis is fine. They set out to make cheap, quality gear. ADATs weren't great but for the money they were fucking phenomenal. I owned 3 of them. MidiFEX, Quadraverb 2, Midiverb IV, SR-16, trying to think of what else Alesis I've owned. They had a big dumb mixing console that nobody with any sense bought but I mean... the SR-16 was introduced in 1992. I know kids with kids who weren't introduced in 1992. What killed Alesis was the A6 Andromeda, a big dumb analog synth that sounds like shit and was introduced in an era when Native Instruments was already selling Reaktor, Absynth and Massive. I was having this discussion with goobster and using the Andromeda as an object lesson when I discover that they're going for thousands of fucking dollars which says a lot about the neofetishism driving keyboard purchases these days. Fuckin' $550 for a CZ101. Buy an amp. They're cheap. There's like a page and a half of Crowns on eBay for less than $100.