Mixing Guitar: DUY Dad, Analog Channel AC2, Voxengo, PSP

[jess123]

Hi guys,

I was reading this article here http://www.digidesign.com/digizine/arch ... /index.cfm on mixing guitar....At the bottom section, the engineer recommends a chain of plug-ins, and I was wondering whether I need stuff like DaD Valve, DaD Tape, Analog Channel AC2 and AC1?

I mean, I do guitar recording via Line6 POD and basically compress and EQ on my PC with Cubase. And that's it. It's all digital.

Those plugins above seems to be very pricy and seems to run only on Mac. Unfortunately I'm on PC and on a budget. I figure there are equivalent...
a. DUY DaD Valve (PSP VintageWarmer, Antares Tube)
b. DUY DaD Tape (Voxengo Analogflux Suite[The TapeBus])
c. Analog Channel AC2 and AC1 (???)

1. Question: Are the above comparable? Do you have other recommendations?

2. Question: Do you think these are essential for recording guitar via Line6 POD? (I'm quite confuse, as I think the writer uses analog way of recording and then he digitased it)

3. Question: What the heck is Analog Channel AC2 and AC1 used for? (Do I even need them in the digital world)

Thank you.

PS: Newbie here.