As for the actual sound... what are artists that have this "modern" hi-gain sound? I think of groups like System of a Down, and I can say that I don't see any mystery in their tone. What's great about SoaD is that the technique makes it heavy. Well, and the occasional baritone guitar.
The amp sims I've used already far exceed the "tone" (using the word loosely) found on Metallica's ...And Justice For All, which nevertheless seems to be a metal-head's definition of great distortion. Yuk. SoaD have a much better and more brutal sound.
Then there's Queens of the Stone Age, who are NOT metal (I'm not claiming they are), but yet have more balls, force, and urgency to their tone than practically any band out there. Lowish-output pickups and crunch tone. It's all about the attitude and style.
I know you're mainly joking about the clean tone thing, but the sound of a DI (about as "clean" as it gets!) is NOT anywhere close to be the same as the "Lenny"-style tone.
Greg




