Robb,

My recommendation to you to try simulation first is echoed in your question about the Roland. - can it play quiet without sacrificing tone.

Look, I love the sounds of various tube amps. I played through a Park (either a Marshall knock-off, or some subcategory of Marshall) head and cabinet that was borrowed, played through a couple of blackface Fender amps, etc.

Tube amps are GREAT when you really push them. Agreed that you can't get the same vibe with an amp simulator as moving your pant legs and chest while wailing away with a tube amp live.

HOWEVER,

your post specifically asked about playing quiet at home. You've reiterated that with your post to Bob about the Roland Cube (great series of amps IMO).

Here is where you will have to compromise a bit, or spend major coin on an iso cabinet. I'm suggesting that the software you have right now, is a more ideal solution than any hardware solution - since it seems your main purpose is playing/recording at home and not gigging. Maybe I have that wrong.

You asked about an 'acoustic amp'. Without a hardware amp simulator feeding that amp, you will be disappointed with almost all of them on the market. Reason: They almost all have a full-range speaker setup, whereas all of the famous guitar amps have cabinets that seriously color the sound of the guitar - they do that either intentionally or by a happy combination of how the head drives the cabinet.

If your main goal is to gig with the guitar, lean towards an amp (though if were me I would lean toward a modeling amp like the cube, the Fender GDec series, Line 6 stuff, etc.), but if your main goal is to record at home, I would exhaust amp simulation first.

As for latency, ASIO should take care of that with a low enough buffer setting. Low enough that you won't be able to feel the latency with playing.

I'll see if I can record some stuff over your rollin on song in the next week or two using just amp simulation; guitar plugged into my interface. Actually, it will probably be July before I can seriously attack that. I have a trip this month and a 'gig' on the 30th, where I need to practice and will be using a Digitech RP500 only with my Epiphone Nighthawk Custom Reissue. Normally they record these and if there's a decent two-track off the board that results, I'll send you some snippets.

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