WD sure does it for me! The versatility and tone-shaping is important, because I play a lot of different types of music. It's got all the power and features I'll ever need in an amp.
The basic tone with everything set flat sounds great to me. Just playing with the gain and master can get fairly clean and loud, although I really prefer that tubey, warm breakup you can dial in with higher gain settings and hotter input. What's remarkable to me is that you can actually get a lot of tube grind at low volume if you push the input stage and keep the master down low. Try that with a full tube amp! It's really easy to dial in just the right amount of overdrive, and a couple of features help with that. Switching to 2-ohm mode limits output into higher loads, which helps you get some OD at lower volume settings or get more distortion at higher volumes. You can go for just a little bit of drive when you really dig in to fully saturated overdrive and everything in between.
The power tube emulation gives a little different flavor of drive when pushed. It's more subtle than pushing the gain, really musical and interacts beautifully with the preamp, providing another way to get different flavors of overdrive. Those features coupled with the wonderful Power Amp Damping control provide a robust palette to dial in the tones needed for different situations.
I had demoed a Walkabout and really liked it, but it was out of production by the time I came across one and was pretty pricey on the used market. I settled for something else but it was just too sterile and I didn't find much satisfaction chasing after the tones that I wanted with pedals. One thing I did learn on that little side-trip to tone nirvana was that for me, modern practice features such as a headphone output, ability to play without a speaker load for silent practice, and an Auxiliary input are essential to me. 3 more boxes checked by the WD.
The DI is a high point of the Subway series and is quite versatile. I always run mine post-EQ, but having the option to bypass the preamp is important for some players. Being able to choose between line-level and mic-level output allows you to push the gain without sending too hot of a signal to the board when sending a post-EQ feed.
The WD REALLY shines in a band setting. It's so easy to dial in a tone that sits well in the mix. My band plays metal and tends toward the harder end of the party rock spectrum, at loud but not at crazy volumes. I'm a big believer in using the mids to claim my space in a mix, and the WD has a deep well to draw from. The HPF is indispensable for taming the robust, deep bass at your command. It's got plenty of booty! Between that, the parametric EQ, and other tone controls (bass, treble, passive mid) it's pretty easy to get the tones I need and to tame uncooperative rooms. And if you need crazy volume, the WD can deliver. Truthfully, with a hot signal and a pair of Subway cabs, I have had no need to go beyond gain at 2:00 and master at noon. And the controls are linear, so I'm leaving a lot in the tank.
Another benefit from the Subway amps is that the resale value is really good, so it shouldn't cost too much to turn it over if you decide it's not your thing. The main negatives that I read here are that all those controls are overwhelming for some, and it's brighter than a lot of amps. Both features appeal to this ol' gearhead, so this is a match made in tone heaven!
Good luck to you on your tone quest!
