There's no such thing as a "good" master volume, just degrees of less bad. The whole key to a tube amp is power supply behavior. If the amp isn't operating near it's maximum power it won't have the dynamics. Power Scaling helps but it's not the same because the power and output transformers don't scale.
And that's EXACTLY why I am choosing to go with a Fractal XL instead of a Marshall YJM100 head.
a couple years ago when that YJM100 head first came out, I thought to myself THIS is perfect! Because, before that I had a Axe Standard but I eventually felt like I was missing something from tube amps, so I sold it. At that time I was living in a house and I could play amps as loud as I want, now I'm in a apartment so volume is a issue, but I hope to have a house again in another year or two.
So then comes along the new YJM100 head that I think gets 95% of all the guitar tones that I really want or need, AND, it has a new type of power scaling that sounds better than any types of power scaling technology that came before it... so I was really thinking that was going to be the be all end all of amps if I could just get that!
So I was almost going to buy one...
But then I saw the Mark Day videos Somebody Get Me A Doctor & Turn Up The Radio, and THEN I finally heard the Axe FX that sounded as good or maybe even BETTER than I had even heard a Marshall sound, even the YJM100...
And I thought ok, the YJM100 even used is going to be about $2,200... then I will want 2 Marshall Cabs that will be about another $1,600 (so I can run stereo), then I will want to put in 8 EV speakers or maybe Altecs 41H like Randy Rhoads used, that would be about another $1,600... plus then I would have the hassle of having to position a Mic just right to get the best recorded tones etc etc.
So the YJM100 route would have costed me a little more than just getting a XL and studio monitors and controller.
Plus with the Axe FX it's way easier to move around than two 4x12 cabs (because yes, if I would have gotten the YJM100, I would have HAD to have at least two 4x12 cabs, if not more, because having a wall of marshalls behind me has always been a fantasy for me anyway)
But the bottom line just came down to, with the Axe FX XL, I could do everything the YJM could do in a smaller package, AND A MILLION OTHER things, that maybe I don't have a use for now, but who knows, it's better to have too many tones than not enough.
Just makes the most sense to me to buy Fractal.
Now if Fractal had never been invented... THEN, I'd choose a YJM100 head because of the power scaling feature, because with that it seems to sound as good at bedroom whisper volume as it does cranked with that special power scaling...
But exactly as Cliff stated there, it's not TRULY power scaling everything... so something would still be missing from the tone, I mean it's not like you'd want to power scale if you didn't have too, so it certainly isn't giving you a tone benefit in power scaling.
But with Fractal, you get PERFECT tones at ANY volume without any compromise.
I think if the YJM100 had been invented in the 80s and 90s before good modelers, it would have sold like hot cakes.
But now, even though the YJM100 is great, it's obsolete in the presence of Fractal.
It just makes the most sense on all fronts to buy Fractal.
But if you aren't going to do Fractal, and you want the best master amp, get the YJM100, check out the two awesome demos Rob Chappers did of it on youtube.
But Fractal is like having EVERY amp ever invented, and being able to play them at ANY volume without sacrificing the quality of their tones, as well as making it super easy to record, especially with the built in audio interface.
And now I am eagerly anticipating these new Plug Ins, whatever they might be...