Well I haven't been focusing on my tapping too much lately, and it's gotten worse. Now that I'm up to Petrucci's solo in "Ytse Jam" i've got to work on the tapping.

HughesJB4 wrote: Petrucci tapping work was never particularly advanced, but as long as it sounds good I can dig it. The thing I hate about tapping is that it's so easy to get stuck into the bog standard one finger on the fretting hand stuff, something I'm trying to break free of lately. Maybe I'll give Ytse Jam a go one day too, but I don't even have that album yet, lol, I've got studio every album except WDADU. I've heard it many times, but personally I only really liked about 3 songs off it, Ytse Jam being one of the good songs of course.

I'm currently teaching myself Tico Tico http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To09Km0y8ic Not this version, but that's the song. Something a bit faster at this point.

Well, I've started recording stuff, just semi improvised post metal type stuff, but the Behringer V-Amp 2  sounds pretty good direct recorded, far better than I expected.
I've been spending time on vibrato again, and man, my leads are starting to get that scream and wailing to them again. I've got some insane calluses on my index finger from vibrato, but it's paid off for sure.

Dude, A Behringer V-amp 2 like mine can be costs literally half the price of a Line 6 Pod 2.0 and the scary thing is most of the high gain amp models (which would be the ones you would need anyway) sounds pretty sound. If you have any sort of keyboard amp, a stereo hi fi system, PA system or whatever, you can plug it into that any it will sound good man.
But just keep bearing in mind the Boss GT8 can be going for cheap too if you look.

Bugera, I know that brand, they are owned by Behringer. They are essentially making reverse engineered Peavey XXX and Peavey 5150 copies, although I've been told the 5150 copy has a far better clean channel than the real deal 5150, which doesn't clean up well. There has been reports of reliability issues several months back, but they might have been ironed out by now, and the amp does need some time to prove whether it becomes legendary or totally flops. Personally, I'm a big fan of the Soldano SLO-100 type lead tone (I use the SLO-100 emulation on my V-Amp2) and also the 5150 high gain sound, which is an amp that you can find modelled on the Boss GT amp modellers and the POD XTs/X3s.
Those tones are smoother than say, the Mesa Boogie Rectifier sound (which you'll hear on Train Of Thought) and while they don't sound as good for rhythm metal guitar, the lead sound cuts better and favors legato licks more, so I compromise a little and go for the Soldano/5150 sound instead, but make no mistake they can sound brutal on rhythm too.

^Well it doesn't sound 100 percent like one, but nor did any other modelling unit new at the time could either, but whether or not it's a 100 per cent accurate emulation is not relevant to me, as long as the tone works and is good, that's what matters.

It depends. If you go for the X3 or even the X3Live, those are USB 2.0 capable, and can be used for direct recording with ease and it will definitely sound better than my V-Amp2, but that said the V-amp is 1/6th of the price of the X3Live, but if I had the money I would buy the X3Live straight away.
The XT, the older model, even that has more features than my V-amp2.
Basically, don't bother with the POD 2.0, the V-Amp 2 is half the price and sounds better in some departments like the lead guitar type tones for example.
You never mentioned your budget, so I can't tell you whether the XT, X3 or V-amp 2 is good for you.

Bear in mind, with the V-Amp 2, it's still very easy to record with, all you need to do is plug it directly into your line in, and just use any program that records pretty much.

Sounds like some good times man. I've been single for ages, although me being me I'm one of those guys that on those odd nights gets action I didn't even see coming.
Well, that intense vibrato practice I was doing, seriously paid off. I can now go from frantic medium size vibrato to a wider Dimebag-esque kinda vibrato, so I'm happy about that. I'm imagining by the end of the year, my vibrato will be pretty damn good.
To me, being able to slam down serious bending technique and vibrato combined with alternate picking, sweep picking, tapping, legato etc, is what separates the n00by out of tune shredders from the guys that add real emotion in their fast licks, like Steve Vai, Satch and Petrucci, so do your best to work on bending and vibrato. Otherwise you'll end up with a Kirk Hammett vibrato

I know this guy, he is in a local metal band, he can sweep pick like a monster, but that's it. He never learnt how to bend properly, his vibrato hurts your ears, and his legato, alternate and tapping chops are sloppy are slush. Listening to the guy play really makes you realise the importance of the small details in the solo.

Oh and BTW, can I suggest for home use, you look into getting a keyboard amp to go with the V-Amp 2.
A 45 watt Behringer keyboard amp, will be really cheap, and will probably be loud enough to rehearse with too.
I don't even use a guitar amp for my V-Amp 2, and it works fine, If you're wondering why I don't use a guitar amp, I explain the reasons why PA systems/Keyboard amps actually sound better with modelling units in this thread here: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=48704.