Still, I guess these types of devices are just not for me and the types of music I record. I'm aware of the the big name artists that are using them and to be honest they're all guys whose sound I don't really salivate over in the first place... and in most cases there's usually a huge differenece between what an artist or band uses live and what was used in the studio. For most of the bands I listen to, the guitars and even amps belonged to the producer and some were rare and cherished house amps that belong to the studio. the reason I know this is that I'm fanatic when it comes to recording and I make it a point to contact the engineers/producers/guitars players to ask very detailed questions about the recordings I listen to when I hear something I like on an album I'm listening to... detailed questions regarding everything from guitars, pickups, amps, mics, preamps basses, compressors, settings and so on. I've been very fortunate in getting rather detailed feedback on my enquiries.
But I digress. I'm not saying something like this device doesn't have its uses for some people including those big names, but I guess it all depends on what your after in a guitar recording and for me these kinds of devices just don't cut it for what I'm doing here. There are certain subtleties and details that I won't bore anyone by trying to describe, but these characteristics have been lacking in even the best modelers until recently and I can guarantee there's alot more going on in digital modeling to try to achieve those things than what can be produced by a passive simulator. As far as I'm concerned there are even only 2 modelers out there right now that both happen to be software that actually get this stuff right... and I would give my left nut to anyone who would be able to tell in a blind test that certain recordings I've heard done with them with reference to particular genres and rythym styles weren't an actual miced amp. Again I could write an entire page about what those subtleties are to my ear, but they come down to things like a tightness and grunt in the bottom end especially when palm muting, and a quality to the high end that doesn't sound "direct" regardless of being filtered to a speaker's spectrum. I just don't hear the stuff I'm talking about coming out of these kinds of simulated passive hardware devices... but I tell ya what (as Hank Hill would say) if someone played me a recording of one these things that retained all the characteristics I'm refering to I'll be the first one to eat my words, sell my cabinet and buy one... I'd love to be able to put my Soldano to use while not getting kicked outa here! Until then I'm going to try a little experiment. I've been wanting to try a blend of my miced Soldano played simultaneously direct through Amplitube 2's Marshall or Revalver MKII's Rectifier with a convolution impulsed mic/cab. I bought a Radial Engineering Tonebone Switchbone for just such a splitting purpose and I think it's finally time to get off my ass and try it out. Sounds like a project for the weekend.
Anyway, I told you I was a fanatic about this stuff and am really hard to please... probably to a fault, but the results in the end are always worth it when I'm listening back to this stuff.