Wow! What a cool gift.
And you are right. When you finally get something with authentic tube drive, you can step away from all the distortion and let the thing punch to make the power and dynamics you are looking for. Take Back in Black for instance. The sound is all but clean. It is all drive and punch. No distortion. Now begins your quest for the right amount of distortion and the right amount of punch to equal what you want without clouding what the guitar is really doing.
And congrats!!