IMHO Axis and Allies Anniversary 1942, with NO’s, out of the box, was one of the best games for balance.
Now, once the pro’s really started pounding out thousands of games of it, it went from a slight axis bid to a slight allied bid. I think 6-9 bid for Allies is now the average.
But If you’re just average players looking for a fairly close game, bid really isnt going to matter, and I would recommend Anniversary 42 out of box.
My second choice would be Axis and Allies 1942SE, Give the russians a bomber (instead of an allied bid) and go. This tends to be a VERY tight game as well.