I am always happy with a Brother machine, even the ones at Walmart. I was given a bottom of the line one and it works fine. No bells and whistles. I have an older electronic one which sews through anything and then about 15 years ago bought myself a relatively inexpensive one with the alphabet. All worked straight out of the box with no issues with thread or tension. I now mostly use a PQ1500 for piecing (because I don't think piecing needs any bells and whistles, YMMV) and I also FMQ with it. It takes any thread.
People will recommend vintage machines. I like them too and have a "herd" of them. But they are not always available where and when you want one and then some of them need to be "rehabbed".