Pretty much since I've been playing electric guitar I've been using modelers, from the old Line 6 units through to the Axe FX II today. I've had real amps, but primarily I've used modelers, so I'm very used to the workflow.
But form factor is important. It's a different experience, sitting in front of the axe's front panel or axe-edit, looking at the grid, tweaking settings with a mouse and going through menus, and adding eq's and effects. Totally different than sitting in front of an amp, tweaking physical knobs and having limited options to work with.
It's a different mindset, one that I welcome from time-to-time, when the options paralysis gets to be too much on the axe fx. Sometimes not having the ability to go into advanced options or just drop in a PEQ can help you think differently and find other solutions to tone problems.
It's easy to laugh at, but smell is a big emotional trigger. What do you feel when you smell your girlfriend or wife? There are certain feelings and memories triggered by the smell of a hot tube amp. Memories of jamming with your friends, or playing gigs, etc. If that's how you played for years, I can totally get how something would feel like it's missing when they play a modeler.
Everyone will call us out-of-touch old men when the kids are playing their digital VR hologram guitars, and we're still playing physical guitars made of wood.
Furthermore, both Dave and Steve clearly aren't anti-modeling as they have amps in the axe fx and allowed the use their trademarked names, as well as helped Cliff model them, from what I undetstand.
You've also got a couple guys whose entire business is building and modding tube amps, have done it all their lives, and don't look like they're about to switch to computer programming. I would expect them to be pro-tube amp in the same way that I would expect a book printer to prefer books over a Kindle.
Overall I enjoyed that video. The Fryette D60 is my new favourite model in the axe fx, so much so that I've been considering buying a powerstation to power the axe, or just getting a GP/DI, so it was interesting to hear the history behind it all.