I was a fool years back and spent way too much on a high end tone snob approved amplifier (I won't mention names). I was convinced by a fellow musician who thought it was so important for my career he offered to lend me money to aquire it.

Anyways I blew that thing up about 4 times, was tired of fixing it myself, brought it to the best tech in the city.

He refused to fix it and basically made fun of me for selling my Fender!

I realized he was right.

I payed a premium for bells and whistles I never once used. . .

I played over 500 gigs on my Fender Twin, dropped it down 6 flights of concrete steps in my NYC apartment, and brought it with me to California in a cardboard box. Never an issue.

I had played Fenders my whole life, and I swore I would go back regardless of cost.

Thing is, it didn't cost all that much at all.

I traded some old punk LP's for a Silverface Fender Bassman head and ran it through my cabs. It was sick. I realized instantly the superiority of a simple classic design. I bought a second one off e-bay. $340. 

Want to talk budget? I have 5 4x12s (2 Marshall, 2 Carvin, 1 Ampeg) loaded with various vintage celestions.

My total purchase price? $20.

It took over 3 months of gluing cones, punching out and replacing EVERY T- bolt, Mixing and matching speakers (you always have an odd number of any given type), soldering, painting, and re-grillclothing (which is the F'ing worst).

I'd like to expound on how valuable a learning experience it was, but it really was a big pain in the butt.

But now I now rock an ultimate rig of 2 full stacks on stage. The soundguys complain before I play, then complement me after.

Of course you could save yourself a lot of work and just buy a cab or two and still be at about 1/3 the cost of a Boutique combo, but I had a vision.

How did I get all this vintage gear for $20? Look, somebody's wife, girlfriend, housemate etc. always WANTS THAT DAMNED THING OUT OF THE LIVING ROOM/ DEN/ GARAGE. I would tell them I was broke, as was my high priced amp, but I was really good and had a dream to build the ultimate guitar rig. I'd offer them whatever I had in wallet, plus my bands CD and T-shirt. They never once took the money.

Fellow musicians are generally really cool people and its kind of like an extended (if disfunctional) family.

If they feel the gods of rock have sent you to be their champion, they will hook you up.

I personally kick down all my old, unused gear, and fix my friends gear for free. What goes around comes around.