I didn't really notice a change in gain, but I also only tried the MkIV, Savage & Skull Crusher models. I might have brought the Engl model down a touch on the gain, but I'm constantly fidgeting with that anyways as I can never really decide if I like juuuust a little more or juuuust a little less. I'm also running through a poweramp & cab.
Any chance on these cases of extreme gain changes that the global input level was affected somehow? Mine has always been around 9-15% I believe, didn't check it after loading Ares because I didn't have any issues.
Other than all that, I'm pretty happy with this firmware. I fall in the camp of not being able to tell a whole world of difference from one firmware to the next, but I think on this one the feel is improved and the sound has some more clarity to it for my high-gain stuff. I gave the skull crusher a whirl, its definitely a strong competitor to my engl preset, but it'll need some heavier tweaking than I was able to give it so far to get there. No matter what other model I try, when I come back to the engl it just sounds bigger better clearer punchier etc etc. There are certain things about the engl that I'm still working on dialing in/out, and thats part of why I keep trying other models out, but for the most part I just can't find anything else to compete with it for the tone & feel that I want. Can't really comment on clean or edge/crunchy type tones as I haven't messed with them at all since loading ares & to be fair I don't really mess with them much at all anyways.
Definitely a badass firmware, definitely still happy I picked up the 2 when I did. Definitely still itching to get a 3, but not too terribly upset that I won't be able to afford one any time in the near future. The 2 is finished, the 3 is well under way...I'm pretty excited to see what Cliff & Co. come up with next, whenever 'soon' might come around this time.
