I have a friend who had an older XT live floor unit, he has a nice les Paul, 72 I believe with dimarzio SD in neck and bridge.
At Practise the tones are very good, since he has a hybrid Marshall single combo 12", with a pre-amp tube and solid state output, the sounds are nice and creamy and in a practise session seems to be a very nice mix, even though when he solos he has to blast the volume more to get the dynamics and be heard.
I am using a Marshall DFX50 with a Zoom 9.2tt tube peddle for practise, and same thing, together for practising seems to compliment one another, but for live, different story.
With his rig, even though the tone is pretty decent, he never cuts through the mix, it is not defined and needs to be cranked way up to really get any dynamics and then of course, the mix gets messed up.
I used the Marshall DFX-50 once live and that was good enough not to ever use it again...lol
Friend recently bought a Line 6 HD300, since his older peddle bit the dust, the sound is much better, but still processed, but again at practise not a big deal, live, again different story.
When I use the Zoom pedal with a tube head and 2x12 cabs, the sound is much different. Cutting through the mix with no issues, the dynamics are much better, and of course, the feel is totally different.
My friend, well, sweet tone, but in a live mix, he totally always gets lost and he is the lead player.
The Zoom through a tube head sounds pretty decent, can mimic many tones and pretty good enough for my needs, but I am wanting to fire up the MP-2 again with 4C method and give it another whirl.
Peace