I'm extremely bored at work so I'll give ideas.
None of the amp models in the tonelab give me that sonic high that my main amp has. Which is okay I bought the tonelab primarily for quit practice. I tried using it at church, but they don't have the right setup.
I run my Mesa Nomad mostly pre-distortion because it's to loud to run it power amp distortion. The nomad doesn't have the typical mesa sound to it it's a little darker which some people hate some people love. I love it; the recto models and the express models have to much cut for my taste.
So I was practicing at home one night and got the idea of going from the preamp out of my mesa to the input of the tonelab and turning off the amp model. I might have went into the insert return don't remember. I selected the V30 cab, it sounded pretty close to what I remembered my nomad sounded like threw a 4x12 mesa cab. My only complain is I wish vox would have modeled the 2x12 recto cab. Either way it was a lot more enjoyable to play that way than with the actual amp model.
I think it would be worth building or buying a tube preamp and using that instead of the amp models. However doing that means the boss GT line would have been a better choice since you can configure the insert anywhere in the virtual signal chain.
I use a Mesa preamp into a
Sat, 2008/05/10 - 7:25pm — M_anstromI use a Mesa preamp into a rivera S-120 and get that nice dark mesa tone. I still have yet to figure out the attraction to the rectos but to each there own. Honestly I use my tonelab when I don't feel like lugging the whole rig around, or if I want to just use it for the effects. However, like you said nothing is like the real thing!