My guitarist is looking into getting a Marshall half stack and he could use my help with affording it and basically getting more bang for his buck. I recommended the 1960A cab to him which I hear really good things about and he's interested in switching to tube instead of solid state. I'm thinking of the JCM series for him but not sure exactly what would be the best. He basically wants a really dependable Marshall that he can have for the rest of his life. Anyone got anything in mind?

Also there are some other things I would like to know like OHM and maybe even the pros and cons of going tube. I hear going tube the louder you turn it up the better it almost sounds and that tubes need to be warmed up and maintained. I'd like to know more about some of these things.

definitely go Tube.
Stay away from the Valvestate.
1960a's are fucking great cabs.

jcm 800 is my favorite sounding marshall

ps....1960's have an ohm switch 8ohm stereo/4 Ohms mono....and I think a 16 ohm option too, but I may be wrong.
I use a 19060 AV cab, that is wired mono.

I've heard of 8ohm, 4ohm, and 16ohm but I'm not exactly sure what that means. Could someone explain? I'm not too guitar amp savy, I know things here and there.

with out getting technical you need to match the output of your head with your cab, most heads can switch between 16 8 and 4 so you can match what ever your cab may be, most 4x12 guitar cabs are 8 ohms but not all.

OK you can be technical, what is ohm? I get the jist of it of having to match it but what is it's purpose?

Ohmage works like this.....
the lower ohms (4) the louder it will be.
at 4 ohms your amp may push 100 watts, while at 8 ohms, it may only push 50.
It depends on the amp.

Picture a screen ....the screen with bigger mesh lets more bugs in...that is lower ohmage, letting more power go to your speakers.
A tighter mesh would be your 8 ohm, and so on.

Basically....the lower the ohmage the 'louder' it will be.

the higher your ohmage, the more resistance (saturation).

Example:
I play shows with one cab at 4 ohms stereo/ I practice with 2 cabs at 8 ohms stereo/ and I record with one cab at 16 ohms mono.

Hope this helps.

www.plexipalace.com

spend a couple hours lurking here, you'll likely learn everything you need to know about tubes, impedance, cabs, speakers, heads, etc.

p.s. the 1960 cab is definitely a good choice, and the JCM800 is by and large considered to be the best sounding modern marshall. it'll need a boost (tubescreamer pedal or somthing similar) to get real high gain for metal, but i don't think any other marshall head since even comes close.