I can‘t comment on any 3D punch. And I also haven‘t watched the demos, sorry.
But I never had any issues with headroom whatsoever. You can of course drive the preamp and the more you drive it, the more the internal limiter will squash the feedback. But that is by design and sounds pretty great to my ears.
There also is the Texture parameter on the second page of the pedal that can have an influence on the sound of the preamp, depending on the delay mode you are in.
I personally think it sounds fantastic, but I am also biased.
Edit:
One thing comes to mind, maybe that is what you mean: The Preamp can also drive the dry signal, that is the standard setting, but you can disable it. I prefer to keep the dry signal clean.
I’ve been in a similar situation lately, though I’ve had Clean a bit longer and struggled to use it previously. I’ve just begun using it end of chain and I am falling in love with it. I was very close to selling it recently and I’m so glad I didn’t. There’s something so satisfying about fine tuning it to get a specific sound in mind, and then nailing it.
It’s just such a cool concept for a pedal. It does exactly the thing it set out to do.
Really want to try some of these more utility-focused pedals like Clean and Lossy. I went straight to Onward and it’s very fun, but a bit of a wild ride that I feel definitely can’t go on most everything like how Clean is often described.
! The Lossy also sounds incredible on