1. I'm starting to do some research on amplifiers in the 500-700$ range or so. I'm not planning on making any purchases until about 2 months from now, I just want to make the most educated purchase possible. Do you have any particular recommendations in this price range? It'll be used both for home practice and almost certainly gigging in the near future. I'm definitely not looking to emulate the Mithras tone, as we play a brand of fairly straightforward and uninventive death metal. I guess if there's a specific sound I'm looking for it'd be like Morbid Angel's Domination and Covenant albums, but I'm not dead set on sounding exactly like that, as that would probably cost several thousands of dollars
I've just been using a line6 toneport ever since I started playing guitar, it's sort of like the POD XT except you need to plug it into a computer and it doubles as recording hardware. The high gain sounds are all completely miserable, though it's great just for home recording equipment and you can get some really nice clean sounds of it.
2. What do you do for a living? Not to sound insulting, but I'm guessing you don't make a living off of Mithras, as even some hugely popular bands like My Dying Bride still need full time jobs. What is your educational background?