Fletcher may have an opinion on that. Sad to say, I have no experience with Avalon tube amps. As a crude guess, I bet they do what tube amps do, and AD2022 does what solid state amps with transformers do. Are you trying to make something sound the way it sounds, or better than it sounds? I'd like both, but if I only get one to start, my uses dictate clean. That doesn't mean an Avalon tube amp isn't on the long term list, along with a hell of a lot of others -Great River and Pendulum come to mind.
My next step is to trade in my old Joemeek twinQ with the digital card for a shiny new twinQ, with better EQ. That's a colored sound I can live with for a grand, and the Avalon sees most duty on vox and acoustic instruments. The twinQ is great on percussion, about 30% of vocals, and cabs. I will be very interested to see what the real-world effect is of the "metal" switch on the new twinQ, which apparently takes the transformer in and out of the signal chain. Time will tell whether that is a revolutionary idea or a trendy gimmick.-Richie