I would normally not want to get involved, but as its Sunday... And the Austin Buddy pack is arguably an absolute wonder with respect to ironing out the sounds of boutique guitars (of which I do not own the right ones - ARGGGH!), so I guess this topic is of personal interest. Here are some quotes I found on the trusted internet:
"Hi everyone: I have updated the TonePack to the firmware 9.02 version, and starting this week (December 10th) any new customers ordering will receive both download versions when they order and can choose which they prefer. I personally prefer 8.02 still myself as the presets were designed on that platform, but they sound the same under 9.02 if the newly added SPKR COMP parameter in the amp block is set to zero.
For anyone who owns the 700+ Naked Amps TonePack, if you do upgrade to 9.02 firmware, NOW you can use the latest FracTool 2.60 to change the AMP BLOCK’s new default SKPR COMP of 3.0 back to 0.0 — and that will keep the preset tones the same as in 8.02.
First, as always, use FractalBot to back up everything BEFORE you do anything. So you can always go backwards.
If you loaded up presets under 8.02 and then updated to 9.02, the update will apply a SPKR COMP value of 3.0 and change the sound some, lowering the volume slightly as well (compression)."
See the actual link, he includes the steps to use Fractool to remove the unneeded (relative to his dial-in) compression.
link (accurate as of 2018 01-14 - 6:66 pm Devils Advocate Time...)
https://austinbuddy.com/updating-700-naked-amps-tonepack-version-9-02-8-02-know/
if Austin Buddy did not really say any such things, sue me and remove my belongings from the premises immediately - ah yes, and let Carls Junior assume guardianship over my various offsprings).
One noteworthy thing is that he does say to simply set the SPKR COMP to zero - implying there is little or no difference after doing so. Also, assuming there really is a difference even when setting the SPKR COMP to zero, then I am pretty sure with anyone doing a ton of work to dial in an exact sound, it sucks to not be able to easily duplicate that in a newer firmware. Does that mean there is something better in an earlier firmware. Well, probably not conclusively. ; ) It would be cool if the two factors, easy re-dialing, and enhanced quality in algorithms, were identical though. That would save a lot of fuss.
So although not conclusively, if someone
buys me a
Danocaster I would be happy to expressely determine, exactly with much exactness, whether there is any exact difference.
Meanwhile I hope Cliff does what he knows to be the right thing, because I for one have no idea.