Tell me what amps you DON'T prefer!

[yek]

The CA3+ Clean for me worked well with MV set pretty high (I think 7-ish). Counter intuitive (and also not authentic) since it's actually a Preamp. No idea what power amp the model is based on, but for me that was the magic touch. Used to be one of my main amps, but I've moved over to Hook 2a now.

The Mr Z Highway 66 has worked well for me as a pedal platform. On its own, I didn't find it the great, but it always responded well to drives.

Yes, I can get the CA3 to work for me, but I just don’t like its hi-fi tonal character.

 

[jwoertz]

Badger 30 is great for cleans but gets flabby (for me at least) when overdriven.

 

[EricP1954]

I wouldn't say I gave the amps enough exploration to fully say that I can't work with them, but when I once tried the Engl Powerball, i thought it was so harsh it was unusable. Might have changed with firmware updates, haven't tried.

Other than that, I think most amps are usable, and they sound great, but I just don't really have a use for them.
I'm a metal guy, but I am trying to get the sound in my head for my band, which is not a traditional metal tone at all.
I'm looking for something powerful, british, moderate gain and clear... So far, the closest I got is with the JCM 800.
So, right now I have no use for a 5150, or the Mesa amps, though I really like them.

One man's harsh amp is another man's holy grail of tone. The presets are just one setting, many people create their own or at least modify the settings to get closer to their tonal objectives. Steve Morse uses an Engl, and that's enough of an endorsement to me not to dismiss the Powerball. The presets are meant as a starting point and need to be dialed in to be useful, although some sound great as they are.