Well, when you get back to using the Ears as an external preamp and you STILL want some overdriven grit, check out Plankton's NUTONE. It also gives you a pair of VCAs, but the big ticket there is...yep...TUBES. Or in this case, the Korg-created "NuTube", which uses a variation on a fluorescent display tube to give you a dual triode, but it doesn't suck amps like most other tube circuits. I've heard the NuTube in other devices and it's totally shocked my shit; I always thought this would require something heftier and requiring big current, but not this thing, even though it HAS that triode amp sound.