NAD: Fender Mustang IV...

I sold my tube amp and bought this 2x12 SS amp. It's a few pounds heavier than the 40 lb tube amp I sold, but still manageable with one hand. As George Benson says about the new Fender GB Hot Rod amp while carrying it with one hand, "I can take this to the gig, and come on back with some money". I used to have a Cyber Twin that I loved, but it was too heavy. The Mustang IV is only 8-10 lbs lighter than the CT, but that makes a big difference.

I played this amp recently for the first time, and it's incredible! I know there are some that think SS doesn't compare with tube, but this amp changed my mind. Here are some YouTube videos that compare the Mustang IV to various Fender tube amps:

Blind Test - Fender Mustang IV vs Fender Super Re…: http://youtu.be/PMe8AYCSrN4
RESULTS - Fender Mustang IV vs Fender Super Reverb: http://youtu.be/ZRt2UOcWbLE

Fender '57 Bandmaster vs Fender Mustang IV Blind …: http://youtu.be/1GQObM2ySkQ
RESULTS - Fender Mustang IV vs Fender '57 Bandmas…: http://youtu.be/iJoxEMVieH4

Fender Mustang IV vs Fender EC Twinolux Blind Test: http://youtu.be/jcpdCOQFt5Y
RESULTS - Fender Mustang IV vs Fender EC Twinolux: http://youtu.be/ILBAC_xqvCs

Using the software that comes with this amp you can go online and download tons of presets, or you can create your own presets. Modifying presets in real time is very easy, and much easier than with the CT.

I used to be hardcore against modeling. How can modeling come even close to the real thing? Friend of mine had a Line 6 POD - the original kidney-bean shaped thing. And you know what? Once he was mixed in with the rest of the instruments, I honestly thought it sounded pretty good. Then he got the Pod XT, and while it wasn't all that great as a standalone, mixed in it sounded great again.

Then I got the Pod X3 (admittedly because Lincoln Brewster used it and I thought he got great sounds out of it), and I was actually pretty impressed. I came up with some dual-amp presets that sounded pretty sweet, and while it's still not as gratifying as cranking a tube-amp, it got me pretty close.

Given the advances in modeling technology, and the decline in my ear's sensitivities to nuances of sound due to old age, there will soon come a time when modeling amps will be, as U2 put it, "even better than the real thing."

(And to be completely honest and frank.... I think more than half the time, the "better" sounds I hear coming out of my guitar is purely in my head, influenced by you guys all gushing about how Guilds sound. Put a Squier in my hands, gush about it for long enough, and it'll sound like a thousand bucks to me!)