buying a tube head without being able to play it loud!?

[Temps]

I run my Engl Invader into a THD Hotplate. 16 ohms since that matches my Orange cab. Then I use the line out from the Hotplate so I am recording from the power amp, run that into the Axe FX, and only use it for the IR. Sounds really good, I thought I had my Axe totally dialed for a sick tone, but the Engl crushed it right away. It is way harsher than it normally would be but rolling back the presence and adding a parametric EQ to the Axe patch solved that pretty handily.. sounds so good, and it works just fine through monitors or headphones.

 

[53Crëw]

I would think that a real amp into a hot plate then cab impulses would always sound better than any sort of amp emulation plugins or AxeFX/Pod Pro (or whatever).

Also, if you ever play out, you've got an amp to do it with.

JMHO.