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.
Yeah I was looking at the Line6 Helix the other day thanks to this video, but I'll have to settle for something used or somehow less expensive. I'll check out Crown amps, thanks. :)Buy an amp.