Before this, I pretty much only ever had tube amps. Peavey, marshall, mesa, and orange (still have the Mesa and orange), but i did use some plug-in amp simulators when i was recording. I had amplitube 3, guitar rig 5, and another one (their logo is in the Marshall front, but I can't remember the name)
But nothing has held a candle to this, so far, in my experience.