I had the original GPDI and adored it. I’m curious if the new model can grok any Vox/Matchless flavors? (I.e. el84s running hot, edge of breakup) I never tried it with the original version.
Also curious how the analog can sim does with more distorted tones. I seem to recall it sounded great on the older unit.
I can’t speak to the GPDI thing but I’ll comment about the analog cab sim. I assume the one on the GPDI is basically the same as the one in the PL-IR which is what I have. I quite like it for overdrive/distorted and even high gain tones. I tend to dial back the low mid knob and increase the high mid knob quite a bit when the gain settings are higher. It’s not the same sound as a speaker and if you’re just raw dogging the analog cab sim with headphones you can definitely tell, but I think it sits wonderfully in a mix. I especially like either layering or panning one analog cab sim track and one IR track. And being able to record both outputs at the same time is great, so I just record a stereo take with both and then mix it down.