Use them all...

I love my tube amps and up till about a year ago, I was pretty much a tube amp snob.  I have already thoroughly checked out the VHT Mike has posted and it looks extremely interesting to me and has got my GAS gears churning again.  However, that being said, I find several of the really good sims, very useful to me for recording and practicing, when noise is actually a factor.  I am often very guilty of having both real amp and sim amps in songs that I have created.  On occasion, people have mistaken the real for a sim and the sim for real. 
 
I think the recorded sound of the sims are getting really close to the recorded sounds of the real thing.  The differences to me, are still, movement of air through a speaker and the sustain/ dynamics that a real amp has when being pushed really hard.  I don't use the sim much through monitors, most of the time I wear head phones and it seems to help eliminate some of those differences for me, when I use a sim.
 
I agree with you wst3 that one of the advantages to using a sim; which for me is also a major dissadvantage, is the ability to change amps and tweak tone at a later date, to better fit the song.  THERE ARE TO MANY CHOICES.  That used to really bog me down and effect the way I worked.  I would spend hours running through amp and fx choices trying to find the perfect combo for the song.  Instead, now I treat the sims more like I would my small amp collection.  I have chosen the 2-3 that I like the best and I focus more on just using those, getting to know those well, and setting up presets just for those few amps, to eliminate all of the indicision that can bog me down.
 
I agree with you that many of the pedals are not as good as the amp sims themselves.  I have actually found the rack effects in Amp3 to be better than the pedals.  I am not sure if this would work, but if you have a particular pedal that is your favorite, have you tried putting it in your hardware chain in front of the sim?  Would it possibly give you that certain pedal magic, if you use the sim as just the amp?  I have not tried that, but it may be a possibility.
 

Karyn
Use them all...

I don't think I have enough cables. :-)

I like both, but am more inclined toward sims, mainly because I don't have an amp collection nor could I really justify having one for what I do. I agree that many of the sims are not that great. Many sims now have similar behavior to the real thing... I would recommend that if you haven't tried  sims in the last 5 years to revisit them again and see the difference. There have been great strides made, but just like a tube amp, you need to know how to get the sound out of them.
 
I recently picked up Guitar Rig 5 pro up from Guitar rig 4 and I couldn't believe the difference, especially on the 80's solo presets. I tapped the best ever and it felt like I was using a real amp rig. I tried most of the presets and went through a lot of the bells and whistles...yeah it took me over two hours even sampling each sound for a few minutes, but I have to say GR5 rocks... If sims are a compromise, they are sure a very good one. Amplitube 3 has some cool stuff in it too.

Maybe different amp sims are better suited to certain guitars. I have trouble getting a decent tone with my Telecaster through Guitar Rig 5, but I can't not get a decent tone with TH2. I've heard people say the opposite. I need to check out Amplitube. I still use Guitar Rig a lot though, for the effects chains. You can really do anything you can dream of in there, especially if you learn to use the modulation tools. I use it for synths all the time.

MakeShift
 
I agree with you wst3 that one of the advantages to using a sim; which for me is also a major dissadvantage, is the ability to change amps and tweak tone at a later date, to better fit the song.  THERE ARE TO MANY CHOICES.  That used to really bog me down and effect the way I worked.  I would spend hours running through amp and fx choices trying to find the perfect combo for the song.  Instead, now I treat the sims more like I would my small amp collection.  I have chosen the 2-3 that I like the best and I focus more on just using those, getting to know those well, and setting up presets just for those few amps, to eliminate all of the indicision that can bog me down.
 

That's one thing I have an issue with - restricting myself. It's so easy to just switch models when things don't sound as you want right away.
 
I remember when I first started recording music back in the days. My 59 Bassman was way too loud so I had to resort to my little solid state Marshall combo. That and 2 or 3 pedals. Because that rig was my only option, I had to make it work. I'd fool with mic placement and misuse things in order to get something that sounded close to what I had in mind. Whether it was a Vox-type of sound or a Fender-y sound, or whether I was trying to emulate an entirely different instrument - it had to come out of my trusted US strat and that little Marshall.
 
And that's one of the things at which amp sim suck, imho. Every model seems to have a sweet spot (or a couple of sweet spots), where they actually sound and react like the amp they're modelled after. But outside of those spots, they're often useless. 
 
You can pick up a Marshall and fool with it, dial in the most awkward settings, create "bad" and ugly tones - it always holds up together.  Turn the bass all the way down and the treble all the way up - it still sounds like a Marshall with the bass down and the treble up. Amp sims just seem to fall apart. IMHO.

wst3
For a number of reasons, some of them geeky, some of them lazy, I've been really focused on recording guitars direct and using a variety of amplifier simulations to make them sound better.
 
Last night I threw a pair of e609s on a pair of amplifiers, plugged in a couple pedals, and hit "record".
 
First observation - I think I play better when I'm playing into the amplifiers. OK, maybe not better, but definitely different.
 
Second observation - man I play loud! The amp volume was considerably louder than playback volume. Probably always been that way, but I happened to notice it last night.
 
Third observation - it took me maybe 30 minutes from "gee I want to record electric guitars" to hitting record. And that's cause the studio is not set up for this sort of thing right now, I could cut that in half easily with a little effort. But ok, 30 minutes to set up two amplifiers, find and set up a few pedals, and plug in a couple microphones. I did not set up a cue mix. But I'm pretty sure I'd have spent more than 30 minutes trying different plug-ins, tweaking, etc. And with the effects baked in that's one less thing I'll play around with<G>!
 
Fourth Observation - I really liked the sound I ended up with. Pretty much exactly what I was looking for.
 
I think my amplifier plug-ins are going to collect dust for a bit...

I'm totally with you. However, I think you have to try a modeler that would be as pricey as one of your good amps. THEN you may think a bit differently. For example, the Fractal Audio Axe Fx II is insane. They really got it down, Bill. So much so....the feel I'm getting out of this thing as well as the 12AX7 tube saturation....is creepy good. Try something like the Fractal piece or the Kemper. They really have the modeling thing down to the point of the difference being so slight, it doesn't really matter to me. I can't even tell you what the difference is after the last Fractal update I installed. Not only that, but they have tone matching as well.
 
So if you wanted to tone match all your favorite amps and have them in one box, they have it down. Seriously....the more I mess with this thing, the more it creeps me out....in a good way of course! Pricey as heck, but it's worth it in every aspect and then some. I have just about every amp known to man right at my disposal and THIS thing has it down. The amps that I DO have when compared to it, are about 95% spot on right out of the box. With a few tweaks I can't tell the difference. Instead of tweaking the ones that come with it, I just hit the tone match button and tone match my amps, pre-amps, plugins and anything else that I like.
 
I've tone matched bag pipes, violins, my voice, keyboards, acoustic guitars...it's really incredible. My bud has one...and got a bee in his studio. It was flying around the light, so he threw a mic up there, tone matched the bee, and when he played his guitar...it sounded like a bee. A realistic bee at that...it's not fake. What you put into it, you get out of it. So before you bail on the modeling thing, try something that really has some power behind it that isn't a POD or plugin. The Fractal Axe FX is one of the most groundbreaking processors I have every tried. Every amp, cab and effect known to man just about. The Kemper is cool too...a client brought one of those in a few months ago and left it for the weekend. Ugly as sin, but a powerful modeling amp that also has tone matching.
 
That's really the cool thing for me now. I tone matched all my amps and the best sounds out of each of them. So now I have them all loaded up in one box and at a touch of a button, I literally have that exact sound. Definitely something worth looking into. Then again, if you have all the good amps and tones you want, you don't have to look any further. But if you decide to live a little dangerously, check out the Axe FX II. It's one serious piece of kit and doesn't compare to any of the modelers I've ever tried. :)
 
-Danny

Hmm...not only is the Audio Axe Fx II going for a cool $2200, it's also out of stock! Thank God for that  I almost blew my rent off. 

Thanks Danny! I thought I had my GAS under control!
Tom

I have several amp sims, and have never really liked the way they sound. I do have a POD2 modeler and tend to use it a lot since... 1: it sounds reasonably good and 2: it's fast to set up. I've been using the Pod2 for many years and have enjoyed the Pod2 most of that time getting a reasonable guitar tone from it. However......
 
Recently, I have started to play around more with my Studio 22w boogie and (dare I say it?) even picked up a small smooth disto pedal ( for grins and giggles)  at the recommendation of a buddy who is an accomplished picker I've been friends with for decades. I have begun recording guitar with a mic and really like the results I'm getting. Both acoustic and electric. Even the tele, which I was about to sell because the sound wasn't what I liked, is sounding so much better played through some real tubes and expressed with a 12" paper cone.  It's like falling in love all over again.
 
I agree on the connection between a picker and his axe through the amp vs a modeler. The amp, the room, the cone moving air, all contribute the the zen of the moment that is lacking with a modeler that is totally in the box.
 
Sure, it's louder with the amp, but isn't that the real reason we started to play guitar in the first place? And...... I've never been able to get a singing, controllable feedback from a modeler......
 
None of the above is new revelations, it's all something I have known all along, but through force of habit and laziness, had neglected to do..... play guitar through the tubes in the Mesa.