That's quite interesting, I bought the XT with just cursory fiddle on it in the shop. Partly because I already had a POD 2.0 and could immediately hear I prefered the XT. I then spent approximately two years fiddling with it looking for just breaking up and blues rock tones :lol:. Not too bad I felt, but I barely touched the surface I think.
With the Tonelab, MDV on here had sung it's praises, and it sounded like it did the tones I was after a bit better. So I phoned a shop and told them I wanted to bring my own guitar and headphones and fiddle with it for an hour or so. If it bettered the XT for me, I was buying, if not, no sale. They said OK. So I downloaded the manual, learnt how to use it before I showed up and then started tweaking it in the shop.
It was complete no-brainer for the crunch tones I was after so I bought it. But I'll agree that whenever I've tried to go for more high gain it seems a bit mushy to me... not that I'm a big user of high gain! The XT seems a lot better at that sort of stuff. Both of them though, apart from having a bit of a laugh or experimenting with something I wouldn't usually use, the preset patches are complete @rse!! :lol:
I have to say though - I don't gig anymore, so I've never had to get either of them up to gig volume. I use them almost exclusively through studio monitors or headphones. I have tried them through guitar amps, but I don't really think that's showing them in their best light - the modellor sounds better through the desk and monitors, and the guitar amp sounds better without the modellor attached to it. I did have some success putting the XT into the front of a Vox AC4TV for effects only, turn off the amp/cab stuff - that was quite fun, the stomp boxes, overdrive/distortion etc (which I don't usually go near) came into their own pushing a real amp, and the reverbs/delays/etc sounded just peachy. But although it was fun, it was a bit too much effort for me - I don't really use effects that much.
I think if I was going to try to take a modellor out for gigs, using the amp modelling, I'd be looking at something other than a "guitar amp" to amplify it. This is because I tend to regard the output from a modellor more like the output from a keyboard/synthesiser than the output from a guitar/amp. So I'd want the sound it's generating to be amplified as transparently as possible - and this is not a job for an amplifier designed for guitar in my experience. I'd start looking at amplifiers designed for keyboard players to use as my stage monitor or for backline-only gigs. I know there's another school of thought, get a good valve based power amp and cab - the valve power stage makes the modellor sound more "natural". But I like what I'm getting through my desk at home - why add another colour to it? So I'd be aiming at a keyboard amp or mini pa myself.