I would still go with the LA3A, especially when looking for a tracking compressor for vocals, guitars and eventually bass. The LA3A is magic when used as the first stage of compression and is so easy to set up. Relatively cheap as well and on top of everything it has no really really good plugin emulation imho, the UAD plugin simply does not do it justice, the Waves CLA is better but still not as beautiful as the real thing and even if they were, you would have to track without a comp to apply a la3a plugin as the first stage of compression.
For mixing, a fast comp on top of the LA3A like distressor, ubk fatso, cl1b, 1176 are great and it is way easier to dial in a hefty amount of compression without risking ugly pumping - because stuff has been leveled before hitting the fast comp action. The fast stuff has also been emulated really well, softube cl1b and FET, UAD and waves 1176.

I got plenty of outboard compressors, the LA3A would probably be the last one I would sell if I needed the money.

Any suggestions of particular LA2A clones? Seems like the Red Stripe is the one I can find, and they have limited runs of those, periodically. Just wondering if there's some that I'm missing.

Yeah man, I just bought Komplete 8, which I needed but my next big purchase for sure will be a mofet 76. That thing is awesome and I love how it has switchable transformers with just a switch.

Tube-Tech

I would suggest to buy (or demo) plugins such as Waves CLA first to compare tube (LA2A) or FET (1176). Many plugins are pretty close to the real ones these days. You may think the plugin is enough for your production (like many people do), and you can spend money for something else.

Hardware comps are not waisting money, ONLY WHEN you know what you'are buying. Don't gamble.

Indeed. That one is damn near a no-brainer. I was mostly concerned with the bright sounds I've been hearing in 1176 clips, but some Mofet clips I heard made me smile. Bright and darker, all in one. Great price point.

January can't come soon enough.

Been hearing it has a much cleaner sound than the LA2A. Wish I had the dough to just demo all of these units in-studio, and be done with it. It'll be some time before I can nab an LA2A/clone anyway, so I'll just stop worrying, grab this Mofet in January and get busy. Mofet and PBC-6A should get it done for the time being. Gonna try to rent an LA2A reissue, and/or rent some studio time, and come to a decision the right way.

I was in ITB for years. I finally bought a Distressor EL8-X compressor and don't know why I had been so hesitant. I'm pulling better mixes at the moment than anything a month ago, that's for sure, just using distressor on drums bass and vocals. Haven't tried on guitars yet.