Oh my God, it's incredible. I feel that oomph on every amp I've tried, and I tried a lot of them tonight. It truly is phenomenal. The high gain stuff on the amps you've tested just has meat, which yields even better "grain" to the gain. It's got texture to it, depth. I had been surprised not to have felt so strongly about the SLO100 before either, but now, fahgetaboutit; it's unbelievable. I had not gelled with the X88 before, but, to my utter shock, I love it now! I feel like it has this wall of gain aspect to it that I hadn't perceived in the same way before. There's some real magic going on here.
It feels silly even to think about presets right now. With a real amp, of course you don't have presets (for almost all real amps, i.e.), and I keep feeling so strongly that I'm in front of the real deal right now that the idea of saving one setting and recalling another instantly is what feels unreal; what feels absolutely real is the tone, and I keep having to remind myself that this is a self-contained guitar processor, and it can do so much more than just dead on fool you to think you're playing through a roaring tube amp.
Besides my newfound idolatry of Mike Soldano's designs, I just found that truly I felt the way I used to in front of real tube amps, trying out amps I could never afford at stores, this feeling that the amp is this beast in front of you, and by fiddling with some knobs you may be able to coax the beast to do your bidding, to express itself on your behalf, with more anger and nuance than you ever could on your own. And what's killing me is, I'm feeling this way again tonight, with headphones!
The III Mark II was already a world to explore, really the most sky-is-the-limit guitar gear in existence, and now it's feel is somehow even more real, like scarily powerful, awesome in the true sense of the word, as in compelling a sense of awe. I never felt like the previous firmware was lacking, to be honest, but I also had no idea what it was missing. Whatever the hell it is you discovered, hats off to you, my man. I felt obnoxious even thinking this, but playing the new firmware, I felt sorry for any player who doesn't own the AxeFX III. I always feel like guitar gear is primarily about inspiration, and now I feel exactly the same inspiration I've felt every time I've played a gargantuan sounding amp in the real world.
My sincere thanks.