>Quite pricey but worth a look.
That's the problem, it all adds up 🙁 – to be fair the VT will cover a lot of bases in one go. I doubt he'll actually be disappointed with the sounds he'll get out of it (I was listening to a bit of Bullet.. on the train earlier, it's more of a dirty rather than overdriven tone from what I heard, and my Tonelab's certainly pretty decent at that).
Problem is, take n guitarists and you'll get at least n+1 opinions on amps/guitar/tone..not to mention they can be a fickle bunch about gear (myself included). So trying to get a consistent opinion on a 'better' option is gonna be as successful as herding cats, I suspect.
FWIW…if he thinks we're all a bunch of old fogies, my listening includes Rush, Van Halen, Scorpions, UFO, Mr Big, through to Dream Theater, In Flames, Killswitch Engage, Children of Bodom, Trivium, Opeth, blah blah blah 😉