I haven't tried all of them for long enough to make a judgement yet, but then I've only been using Fractal for 8 years or so. I'll check back in in 10-20 years time when I'm feeling a bit more familiar with them all. Hopefully 500 amps or fewer to choose from by then.
(However, like any electoral system, I didn't let my relative ignorance get in the way of proferring my opinion and voting for a few that I do know!)
AC30 and Marshall 2203 models have recently been the subject of major overhauls within Fractal models, so popularity might be to do with recent familiarity. They are among my favourite real amps of all time, particularly the 2203, for which I've never really found a substitute before getting my first Axe FX. For many years I felt like I just couldn't find anything that sounded better than those amps (2203 since 1996, Vox AC30 since 1997), and I'm not sure I ever really have. Seems like there's a reason for that!
Liam
