I get the whole aversion to the modeling amps. I was that person too. Give me a Mesa and a 20ft cord and a Gibson guitar with humbuckers, crank it up and screw the rest. I played professionally like that for quite a while. No pedals, no FX, just tubes, guitars, and a couple 4x12 cabinets.

However, as a studio player now.... I can't get the versatility I need from just one amp when I'm covering everything from rock to country and more. It's nice to have options.

In addition, with the S-40, I run direct so the volume issue with the Mesa cranking to get that sweet roasting tube tone is not an issue. The modeler does it. Yeah, some of the tones in the modeler can be "sizzly" but I can normally dial in a good EQ that removes that high end fizz. However, a modeler is just that...a model of the original. It might be close, but you're going to be hard pressed to put a modeler side by side with the amp it's trying to emulate and do a comparison and not hear a difference. If you want a cranked Marshall or Mesa.... get a Marshall or Mesa and crank it up. Unfortunately, I have neither the space nor the money to afford to have every amp in the S-40 modeling list....so.... the S-40 is the trick for now.... unless I decide to use the Mesa...

for what I need it to do, the Spark 40 does a reasonable job considering everything.

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