i set out to answer that question for myself the other day when i made that preset.

it took me about 3 hours to come up with that preset. while it is a close approximation, it's not perfectly on the money. the Epsi tone is a bit more focused and has a thicker single note feel. i would pick the Epsi tone over the preset i made. if i took the pre-eq and placed it after the amp, i'm sure i could get the tone much closer....but then i lose my front end shaping and the amp feels like crap again.

i tweak the eleven rack as a part time job, and i still can't get the tone perfectly there. the Epsi is just plain easy to get good tone from. for $218 i got the Epsi and 500 professional IR's made in a studio. it's a no-brainer for me.

the Epsi is well worth the money to me. i play every day now because i have a "REAL" rig tone at my fingertips. i liked the eleven rack before, and i like it even better now. but that's my experience. i have tweaked so much because i was never 100% happy with any one preset for very long.

the tone i have now was the same tone i had with the axe-fx II, and it took me a long time to get there with the axe-fx.

IR is everything my friend.