So, I recently got a new program from Native Instruments called Guitar Rig 2. This amp emulation software is really cool, right out of the box it sounds amazing. I'm especially into the "Doubler" preset in the metal section. Maybe my guitar tone woes will finally be solved. If only I can figure out how to mix this down to CD and have it retain the cool factor....
Guitars:
Fender Lone Star Strat
Martin D-35, so bad, so very very bad...
Epiphone Emperor
Cordoba 75-R
Strings
Labella Electric 11-52
Thomastik-Infield George Benson Nickel Flat/Round Wound Jazz Strings 12-53
D'Addario Pro Arte EJ44
I don't have an amp currently. Instead I'm running directly into my computer through an M-Audio Firewire-410
sound card and using IK Multimedia's Amplitude and NI's Guitar Rig 2 for amp simulation in Cubase SX.
Some other programs I'm using are Propellerhead's Reason and Ableton Live 5.0.
UPDATED
Just got a Mesa Boogie Lone Star Combo. Bad. Bad. Bad.