A nice tube emulation article and a question

[dschwartz]

...i came to the conclusion that it doesn't matter if it simulates tubes down to the minimal detail....

True. Not even all tube amps feature those "minimal details".

Take PPIMV for instance; it prevents output pentodes from clipping and also neuters all power amp circuit's dynamics like sag, dynamic bias shifting and screen compression. Yet most people are totally content with the feature and would rather utilise one instead of a modeling amp that actually overdrives more "tube-y" than a mere phase inverter stage, has the "minimal details" so to speak.

Pritchard early circuits, for instance, were mocked for sounding pretty poor but that had nothing to do with poor tube emulation, just poor voicing. Working together with guitarists and receiving artist input has since improved "voicing" of his designs, and tone.

Marshall's early history is a good example of modifying design based on artist feedback and effectively turning a bass-heavy "flubby" Fender circuit into brighter and "tighter" Marshall.

Exactly..
I know an amp builder that swears over tubes, and uses kt88 tubes and oversized output transformers so he can bring down the power amp distortion down to 0.1% ..
I always think...why don't you just use a class D power amp then?
His amps sound amazing, though, but it's purely preamp distortion into a super linear power amp.