Grape!
Dude, you totally understood me. Yay.
I am not a very good communicator, i guess. Using the words "too perfect" to describe "Sterile/Clinical" perhaps was a mistake.
Though this thread was more for making sure whether the whole idea that the Axe, like all modellers, sound too sterile in comparison to real mic'ed up amps is true or false. Well, most people said "no, the idea is crazy" and I am near that opinion too. I am pretty sure the amps are more or less authenticly correct, with more or less just the right amount of imperfections... I'm saying "More or less" because cliff will come out at a random time and improve the whole thing drastically again, like he always does... So even if you think "It's 100% correct", Cliff always finds how to make it more correct...
However, I am not sure about the Mic/Cab modelling bit.
Here's my full thought process on cab modelling and why it may not be perfect:
This sterile/Clinical cab sound shouldn't be a problem in live performances, because this is how amps actually sound like. What people hear is Amp+Room. That is how, I think, the Axe should be experienced to be fully appreciated.
But capturing that "Amp+Room" in a recording for a song is a whole new game.
Real mic's do that naturally. They not only capture the direct cab sound, but they hear all real delayed reflections of the room walls (They're loud), extra sounds (Natural ambience), and they also have their own reactions to audio paired with a preamp...
Also, the cabs have their own reactions to the audio that is shoved through them. For example, "Motor Drive" is captured naturally.
But an IR? Does it capture all that? If it does, then all is good and I have nothing more to comment, but If it's just an EQ, then no.
That's like, Just the Amp without the Room. Sounds like the amp is eq'd properly but is nowhere, which may be the result of this "Sterilized" and unauthentic sensation.
Also, fake reverbs, even if they sound good, don't fit completely naturally, because they don't sound like the room the cab was in, when the IR was created.
The motor drive has to be dialled in manually...
We have nice sounding preamp modelling. I have nothing to compare that to, so I can't tell whether they are realistic or not, but the "Room" settings always sounded kinda crappy to me... Small amounts just to wet things up is fair enough.
From youtube videos, I noticed that the Axe has a potential to sound so much more pleasing when it's recorded with a mic, not direct.
For example, this sounds great to me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkzFuQYs2Yo
If IR's are more than just EQ's, can they correctly capture the tone of an amp from far away? That is, mostly room reflected audio.