Supervisor quandary.

[Nightwish]

I am currently in the process of writing my application for a PhD studentship but have a bit of a dilemma.
I need to choose who my supervisors will be. There are three options, two of which I need to choose, but I am finding it difficult to know whether I should go for the logical answer or a personal one.

First person - supervised my undergraduate and now postgraduate dissertations, they don't have any specific knowledge of the area I want to study but have been extremely supportive and enthusiastic. They do however have limited experience of supervising PhD students, one current student that I know of, so I am unsure if they are wanting to supervise me just for their own career development.

Second person - only person in the institution who has a research area that links directly to mine. Senior member of staff with a very good publishing record and name in their area. They will be my main supervisor regardless.

Third person - research area doesn't link to mine in most ways but there may be one small aspect that does have a link. Has experience of supervising and has a good publishing record.

Fourth person - Professor of the area, does research into a similar area but focuses more on a different methodology than what I believe I will use. Prolific published works and extremely well known.

So I suppose what I am asking is, do I go with the person who has supported me to where I am now even though they are possibly in a lesser position academically and with experience, or go with the logical reasoning of someone who may contribute a bit more to the area around what I am researching and has a better profile?

[MedSchoolRat]

Presuming you need to choose 2?
1 for sure. Lack of supervisor experience isn't that important.
Whichever of 3 or 4 that is better about answering emails.

[Parietal]

you should have a 1st and 2nd supervisor for your PhD, though often the 2nd does very little or only steps in if there is a crisis.

get the gossip from other phd students in the dept and find out who is good to work with / supportive / helpful. that is a MAJOR factor in doing a PhD, and you really want someone who will look out for you and support your career.

from your description, I'd be inclined to go for no2 with no1 as second supervisor.

[Nightwish]

Thanks for the input.
I was leaning towards number 2 as my main and number 1 as the second supervisor but was worried the lack of experience would be more of an issue than good communication.

Person 1 is definitely very good at regular contact and replying, is extremely supportive and knows how I work.

[getyourgeekon]

1 sounds great as the second then--the good working relationship you already have will be really helpful during the tougher times.
In my area we often have 3 people as supervisors and if you had the option I might also include the prof. I had this, and although they didn't come to all meetings etc they were very useful for some things (collaborations, wider application of my research...)