I have a 2:90:2 power amp, and I've never really been happy with my live into a cabinet tone when using my Axe-Fx units.
Are people generally more happy with the Matrix amps, or is it something I have to tweak to make what I hear recorded or in my headphones sound just as good though my cab's.
I have tried turning on and off the Cabinet sims and Power amp sim and such in the General menu.
Hence, I've never used it live outside of the studio.
So should I get a Matrix? or tweak settings to sound right on my old VHT?
In a word... Tweak!
I don't know what type of music you are playing, or cabinets you are using, but from personal experience... I had a similar thought. I got the Matrix (GTX1000), tried like hell to make work for me. Spent many hours tweaking and work with a tech from Matrix, but was just way too flat, no head room and no punch (for me). I went right back to the 2:Nintey with no regrets.
I think the Matrix is a great amp, it's just not for me. I think most cats are using either FRFR or direct setups, so I think it's a bit of a different experience which really takes advantage of the Axe FX simulators. Defiantly makes it a lot easier getting tone.
I'm using Mesa Recto cabinets at 4 ohms (2*12 and 4*12). I will say after firmware 11.x, it seems the live "power amp + cab" experience (tone) has improved dramatically. I'm able to get a great big full sound with no simulators. Even my skeptical friends are impressed now.
It did take some perseverance and tweaking, but I'm elate with the end results.
I could be wrong, but it seems a lot of the user presets and user patches shared are geared more toward the FRFR and line-direct masses (nothing wrong with that). So it shouldn't be surprise when you download a patch and sounds thin or just not right through a power amp and real cabinet, however, I find in most cases it can be easily molded into shape.
Lastly, I also have found creating a patch from scratch works really well too. Just work with the amp block and no other variables. Once you got a good base sound the sky's the limit.