i'm considering an investment, will have to check if my line 6 spider 2 works with other effects (i dont know the tecchie side of it)

at moment it looks like between

Vox Tonelab SE
Line 6 XT Live

Bear in mind this will be used for both recording at home and in a live setting.

opinions on the above or any other suggestions?

Any amp should work with any effects. Depends on whether you're gonna go guitar-->effects-->amp or guitar-->amp with the effects in the effects loop. regarding the Vox and the XT, I've read good reviews on both. I did play through a Tonelab at a jam a good while back and it was ok. Hard to evalute summat when in a situation like a jam, with someone else's idea of a good sound never quite being the same as yours. If you can, obviously have a go of em both and see which one you like most. Sadly (for me) I've tried one of these (http://www.tcelectronic.com/G-System) a couple of times, so I have no choice but to keep saving up!! Hope you find summat you like.

my amp is a combo with onboard effects, i have a behringer v-amp which ive used a few sounds before for songs and for some reason have never linked it up...or i did and it just added effect ontop of existing effect and sounded horrible!

i should really play around with the setup a bit, but my vamp is here and my amp is at a rehearsal room at mo.

thanks for the opinion...i think the one you linked to is a 'tad' out of my price range.. i shudunt really buy the ones im thinkin about!! but i am tempted.

You need to decide how you want to use the amp and it's effects, really. What effects do the two boards have that you don't in your amp? Can you edit the effects to do what you want? Just had a look on the respective sites, looks like either of em would be good. Best thing to do ( as your amp doesn't have an effects loop) would probably be to run your amp clean and get your sounds from the board. Might be the least complicated way to go about it. I want the G-System because instead of having to set up up to 7 pedals (plus amp footswitch) all I'd need would be the G-System, my wah pedal and my volume pedal. I don't need amp modelling and distortion effects as I have an amp I love the sound of already, and refuse to pay for effects I'll never use. So I have two almost opposing qualities: I'm fussy and I'm a tightwad!! Best of luck whatever you pick, mate. :)