First of all - yes, this is loud enough to play live with. I played this through an Orange 2x12 (16ohm) and a Jet City 2x12 (8ohm) and both were easily able to keep up with a *loud* drummer and bassist in our rehearsal room.
In terms of sound - this thing is nuts. Great tone out of the box, but it takes pedals really well. I recently played a solo show (electric) and sent the signal straight to the board with the cab sim (set to normal) and it sounded incredible and also made the Sound Engineer very happy to not have to deal with a new mic set up for my set :)
The Marshall tone is a bit fuzzy for my taste in this amp, but the AC normal and AC top boost are exactly what I need.
My only complaint so far is that the "stand by" signal isn't 100% dead/quiet. At least on mine. It's wayyyyy quiet, but you can still hear my guitar signal coming through the cab when it's on standby (very faintly).
If this is available/in-stock.... GET IT.