Guitar playing audiophiles, Martin or Taylor?

A friend wants to build a guitar amp that is tube driven.

Can anyone recommend a low priced guitar DIY tube amp?

probably $200 or so is all he can afford...

thanks,
Phil

I have an old Sigma HD 28 made in Japan for Martin back in the early 1980's. It is an excellent guitar. It has a spruce top, rosewood back and sides, and a mahogany neck with a rosewood fingerboard. Made the old fashioned way before CNC and finished in lacquer rather than today's cheaper looking satin finishes that are common on popularly priced guitars. And I have it strung 10-46 like my electrics so I can do blues style bends. Despite the light gauge strings, it has a wonderful deep tone and almost never goes out of tune. I would not trade it for a modern day Martin or a Taylor. Today Sigma's are mostly machine-built mass-produced guitars, but back in the day they made a real effort to retain Martin standards of quality.

Everyting that has been said is so true. For my purposes I chose a Taylor 410 series Koa wood. At 900-1000 used you can find a 500 series but again make sure you can take it for a test drive.

I have an HD-28 and the thing that made me go Martin over the 7series Taylor was that to me the Taylor just seemed to be missing something that the Martin had. Its real personal.

Let me add, that I own both a Martin and a Taylor because they are both great guitars. Overall, I prefer the Marting because of its wonderful balance and rich tones. I could easily live with either though as my only guitar