This will probably be labeled blasphemy. I just got my OTS yesterday, messed around with it (a lot) and got fairly OK with how to get what I want out of it. I can't even get anything like the tones on the soundclips, so either my fingers don't work or I haven't messed around enough with it. Whatever the case may be. I have tweaked around with the internal drive pot and put it at 10. Might probably pull that back to 9 or 8.
Anyway, what I found incredible was the way this thing opens up with a tube processor in the fx loop. I can control the in and out volumes, have four more stages of gain to play around with and unlimited effects (I don't like watery over effected stuff, but this box has served me well into just about any amp for over 10 years, I just use my presets that I made).
I need to figure out how to make new presets that take the amp well, but it's so dry with no reverb, no anything going into that amp. With the rack on doing my stock cleans and in betweens, the amp just sings off the chart (to my ears). On the clean channel you can have a preset that's a bit more dirty off the tubes in the effects loop, and really adds some character, plus you can do some verb or a bit of delay. when you hit the overdrive channel, if you have a nice low-gain patch, the overdrive kicks in nice and smooth. Basically, by combining this amp with the tube processor I have a compensated effects loop, I have two more ax7 stages of gain I can use or not use, and I have whatever the heck effects I want. I am so unpure. I am using a digitech 2101 studio tube. It's fricken sick.
I don't own a single stomp pedal, I have a crybaby that I modded with a dual ganged pot so that it also performs function of a expression controller into my midi stuff. I haven't even started with that yet. I like all the pedals and stuff, but that was the road I went down that put me in the midi processor gear, which has served me well. I dunno, punish me, but I don't think I need to pay 150 or whatever for any pedal since I have way more than I need, tube powered and although the programming and pedalboard management (midi) is a bit of a pain, it's far superior.
Flames away brothers, but I am super thrilled with the potential of this amp with the fx loop running outboard tube gear. It's sick as hell. I am not here trying to cop RF or LC, but I could probably get close. I can't play well enough that it would matter. Right now, with more time screwing with speakers, internal gain, and settings, I am pretty sure I can get just about any tone of any amp out of this. Which means the tone I will get when I am happy, will be MY TONE.
Eric Johnson tone I am still chasing down. That's my wish I could tone, which is also, wish I could play like that.