The tone is excellent but to be honest, it's just too damn loud. I can record with it ok because I go direct through a Palmer speaker simulator but I used it in a studio before through a Marshall 4x12 cab (200 watt) and it was plain ridiculous. We cranked it to the max and it quite literally shook the foundations - 20 seconds in the room with no hearing protection and you would go deaf - seriously. 90 watts from a tube poweramp is way beyond 90 watts from a solid state amp. I have a Marshall DFX100 for jamming and when its at max volume it sounds like the Mesa rig at about 4 or 5 on the dial. Sounds great but you would want somewhere big to play it because you have to really push the volume to get the famous 'tube' tone (sounds even better with a tube preamp before it like the Triaxis).