I've always liked Ampeg because they refuse to make crummy gear.
The noticeable differences - you can change the pickups on the fly and it's see through, but I bought it as an "I always wanted one" type of purchase. Tone wise, it's a little more trebly since there's a fixed bridge and it's acryllic, but they are built like brick shit houses. Also, my Gibson has coil taps and while I like the convenience of just pulling out a volume knob, physically switching the pickup is just so much cooler.