Thanks for the support! This amp is incredible. It's intimidating at first, but there is a ton of help online. It also helped me to look at the settings in the Mesa demo vids.
The amp actually came out way more mid-forward than I expected. Of course I am also in the middle of switching from decades of playing V30 to wanting more low-end and less buzz and squeal in the mids.
I found settings in a couple of hours of playing that I am pretty impressed with, plus I have a WAY better understanding of how the controls work. Still, it's a lot. I think flying the space shuttle is less complicated.
In comparing cabs and speakers I found:
1. vertical recto 2x12 with C90 + Creamback is too loose. The Creambacks are not for me.
2. vertical recto 2x12 with C90 + V30 is pretty good, but more shriek and scratch than I want.
3. widebody ported 1x12 with C90 sounds great. Adding another with V30 sounds very good and a bit more balanced.
4. horizontal recto 2x12 with CL80 + Creamback, again not great, too loose and too much mid garbage
5. horizontal recto 2x12 with CL80 + G12K85 is INCREDIBLE. So much low end, lots of tunability in the mids and highs via the EQ. This is the one.
6. #5 Plus 1x12 widebody ported C90 on the other side of the room is approaching nirvana