Reality's setting in, and the steep prices are just too rich for my blood. I really had my heart set on a IIC+ as my one and only amp, but can't get together the 2-3000 US they seem to go for. I'd have to go for the head/cab, as I could manage carrying them separately vs the combo, so that pegs me at about $400 for a nice 1x12 cab and $2-2500 for the head. Way too much.
I'm trying to convince myself that I might be happy with something else much cheaper. My favorite tone is still Hetfield's rhythm tones, but unless I totally missed something, it's not going to be possible to achieve that on a lower budget.
The plan was to get the IIC+ and tweak it into my own sound, so I suppose I could do that with a cheaper high-gain amp. I've owned a 5150 II, but it was way too much power/headroom for me, plus it didn't sound anything like the Mark series imo which is my taste in tone. As sad as it is I've been looking at either a Line6 Spider II 1x12 or a Roland Cube.
Any advice would be much appreciated. Sound clips are always welcome as well! I can't play for too long at a time as my wrists suffer from really bad tendonitis at the moment but I want the little time I have on the guitar to be that much more worth it with a great tone.