Congrats on coming back into the fold!
I have experimented a lot with vintage gear, and the one thing that has improved dramatically since the late 70s is speaker design. They literally did not understand how to design a speaker cab until the late 70s. The one exception I have heard are 70s EPI speakers, which frankly I love and have two sets of, though they really need an eq to come to life. They can also be gotten fairly cheaply or you can buy the components online and build your own cabs.
That said, new stuff can be great and will potentially be even cheaper. I personally gravitate toward JBL because I've had several pairs from different eras and they all sound great, so I would look for a recent manufacture set of JBLs. I would start by looking for studio monitors, because I find the hyped sound of consumer speakers fatiguing.
I have experimented a lot with vintage gear, and the one thing that has improved dramatically since the late 70s is speaker design. They literally did not understand how to design a speaker cab until the late 70s. The one exception I have heard are 70s EPI speakers, which frankly I love and have two sets of, though they really need an eq to come to life. They can also be gotten fairly cheaply or you can buy the components online and build your own cabs.
That said, new stuff can be great and will potentially be even cheaper. I personally gravitate toward JBL because I've had several pairs from different eras and they all sound great, so I would look for a recent manufacture set of JBLs. I would start by looking for studio monitors, because I find the hyped sound of consumer speakers fatiguing.
