No no, I didn't meant to be mean!

Maybe I even cannot judge wether the price difference between LTD and "original" is justified or not. But I have played lots of guitars before I decided to buy an ESP Viper. And what you get is a wonderful set-through neck, an ebony fingerbord, Gotoh Tuners, and active EMG pickups. These were arguments enough to chose the ESP Viper.
Yes, the amp is also very important. But IMO with a good amp you hear the differences (though in case of LTD and original viper it isn't much, indeed)! So far I used a Laney GH50L-Head (Tube amp) with GS412IA-Box, which is a very good live equipment, but only single channel, and too loud for practicing at home. Then I had a small Hughes&Kettner transistor combo, for practicing.
With my new guitar I bought the Line6 Spider Valve 112, which is a very good compromise, as it combines the good digital effect simulations of Line6 with Bogner tube amp design (it contains 6L6 power tubes and 12AX7 preamp tubes). So you have the sound and the power of tube amps, but also some effects for experimenting, and you can regulate your amp to an acceptable volume for practicing at home. I can fully recommend this to you:
Check it out:
http://uk.line6.com/spidervalve/