As far as I can see the best bang for the buck is accually the Kurzweil KSP8. It has the best small room I've heard. Also gives you tons of other FXs. You get a swiss army knife of bus options. You can do mono stereo or 5.1. The coverters are great and the thing is very quite. Distortions are certainly digital though. There are some things only it can do. Can be a mono synth if you like as well.
If you need a box to cover a lot of groud you will not find better on the market right now in my humble opinion. It is very very programable and also has a kurzweil learning curve though not as bad as the K series. I am very happy with mine.