Andrew Lamprecht
Minion of One
Curious minds are curious.
Don't bring a knife to a gun fight. Not that someone will point out that some people have beaten guns with knives, but its just not really the best tool for the job. sure, you can try and drive a ten-penny nail with a tack hammer , but why not just use a great big ball peen?
I love singles because there is nowhere to hide. They will either expose your skill or lack thereof. In comparison, a maxed out modeling amp with HBs is like a shield for novices, most players sound basically the same.
I don't think that's true at all, aside from the compression and lower resonant frequency of a humbucker. Play a single coil into a low-gain amp, then play a humbucker into the same amp with the same settings. Let's leave the "maxed out modeling amp" out of it; what are the differences caused by the actual pickup? As far as your second scenario making "most players sound basically the same", it certainly doesn't make everyone play the same; you can still tell who can play and who can't.
A mild single vs a hot HB? Really? The differences are obvious (you mentioned two). Lots of gain can hide things. An experienced guitarist can still hear a hack through a wall of distortion, but a non-musician may not be able to.
...drive a ten-penny nail with a tack hammer , but why not just use a great big ball peen?
I actually prefer a Hot Rails in the bridge over lots of full size humbuckers I've heard.