It's your money of course, and you can do whatever you want with it. I guess I just wonder why you like their previous product and experience firsthand what a robust development life they'll give their flagships, and then completely disqualify this product because you think there is room for improvement on the Marshall, Vox and high-gain modeling right out the gate?
On the flip side, someone is going to randomly see an open-box Stadium pop up and snag it at a pretty good price....
As nice as all the features like Showcase etc. are - I buy a modeler mainly for the core amp models and FX.
To me, what I've noticed over time is that the experience of authenticity with respect to amp modeling often comes to how the high-end is rendered. People say that the stuff about 7Khz doesn't matter - I disagree - all of it matters even to the much higher frequencies in terms of the 'air'. You can sense it.
I had my setup as I typically do - direct into guitar speaker cabs (so no fiddling with high cuts etc.). The guitar cabs I played through today were Bogner OS 2x12, DV Mark 4x12, PRS HDRX 112 w/ Celestion Gold - all cabs that I'm very familiar with and have had for a long time.
Something about the combination of the feel and tone (mainly upper mids to highs) did not sit right with me across multiple amp models in the Stadium. I fiddled with the Plexi for a long time and it just did not come together. There was something missing. Same with the 2203 and the AC30. I much preferred the 2203 and the AC30 in the Helix (although with the Helix AC30 - I do have to get Sag up closer to 7.4-7.8).
The Agoura Deluxe was nice - but with the Helix DR - once I have the sag closer to 8, it just feels very close to the real amp for me and I ultimately liked it better. The SLO also, I thought was better on Helix than Agoura.
Now, I will say that the Fender Twin is improved over the Helix and the Bogner XTC Blue is also quite a bit better over what they have in Helix so there is that.
But ultimately, something about the Agoura amp models gave me 'modeler' vibes - i.e. it felt like I was playing through a modeler. With Helix on the other hand, I often get that sense like the amp is right there. With models like the Cali Texas - it's next to impossible to separate from the real Lonestar.
It could all just be me - in the Signal Theory vids - Agoura sounded great. In this video which I posted earlier, Agoura more than holds itself against 3 other real amps -
I can't seem to figure out what's wrong. I went through all the settings and in the end, it was not enough for me to justify the upgrade, as the Agoura amps and future Agoura drives were the big draw for me. Can they and will they improve? For sure - they have a great team. But with Helix as good as it is today, I don't feel the need to upgrade.
