There are all kinds of "better" CB tube rigs but that depends on how you define "better".
To me it always comes down to what I might want, availability, cost, condition, and whether or not I think I can fix it or not. There are often some real nice old CB rigs at ham swap meets that can be bought for just a few bucks. There would also have to be some heavy nostalgia for me to be interested in one.
I would think the Messenger 1 would be fairly simple in design. It does seem to be considered a classic CB rig. Seems everyone knows and recognizes one!