For the record, I never meant to say one or the other sounds like shit or significantly better than the other. Is using the cab block an absolute deal breaker? No. Not really. Obviously there are lots of prime recordings where people are using the cab block. But on a personal level, I do hear a difference and I prefer the way I'm doing things now. I figured posting this would give alternatives to anybody feeling the same way is all.
But remember - just as one can "think" themselves into hearing two things as different, you can also "think" your way into believing things sound exactly the same. It's all a matter of perspective.
The following dropbox link illustrates what I hear as the difference between the two methods. The first part of the clip is full on, the second part is filtered at 1kHz. The signal chain is as follows:
Guitar -> Green Rhino drive/boost -> Axe-fx II -> FAS MODERN -> Spdif -> Saffire Pro -> firewire -> Logic Pro X.
Each track has Slate VCC on it, a bit of standard filtering and a touch of subtractive EQ, and the buses have Slate Virtual Bus. The master output has Ozone's limiter. The only difference between the two sets is one is the long IR and one is the signal from the Axe-fx II with a UR cab. Both are recorded with the same IR: OH Mesa Standard Modern Raw 03. The first half is the full range. The second is filtered at 1kHz to emphasize the focus on that "papery" or "crinkly" quality I spoke of earlier. I'll post the link to the soundcloud. You can download from SC as well.
And the DropBox:
Problem with DB. One moment. No DB at the moment so if you want to hear it use SC.