I personally appreciate impulses a HUGE amount, not only have they provided a quick fix, but they have also showed me what good micing sounds like. It's given me something to go off for when I start re-amping soon. I feel like I know what I'm going to be aiming for when I start micing again. Last time I got to mic up my amp was a significant improvement on my old tones because of all that time spent using pete's engl impulses, now with ryans fredman impulses and his explanation of fredman micing to me, I'm gonna be good to go, and I appreciate that hugely.
The problem is perception and usage and intention IMO. Impulses are great, if you use them with the intention of eventually micing shit yourself and making things sound that good. Slate samples are great because they've helped me process drums better, because I've got a point of comparison.
If someone wants a quick fix, then let them have it, but there's enough shit out there to seperate the men from the boys. Lasse is a prime example of that. Real amps and cabs, real drums, and a really talented mix engineer manning the faders. I may like how slate and 8505 sounds, but the sounds lasse gets really show that recordings of real acoustic instruments are always going to sound better.
Lasse's recordings are going to age really fucking well, and your average kid that comes on here begging for presets mixes are going to sound shitty within a very short time frame (if not straight away.)