Re: Dime +... SOLID STATE?
Pardon me for preaching:
Lots of artists use lots of different amps. That still means they may be an endorser of one type of amp, while using others. They hear something new and want to use it creatively, just like we do. How about that! They use one piece of gear on one song one time, or one one tour, then change things around.
My sister-in-law's boyfriend lives in LA and has a grammy he was awarded as a recording engineer. He was amazed by a solo done by a guitarist in Los Lobos. He asked the guy what he used to get that tone. A Tech 21 Trademark 10, cranked. A solid state product. Remember, BB King broke the Lab series amps by Gibson, a solid-state line. Lots of the other studio guitarists he sees, including Dann Huff and Michael Landau, are exact-o-freaks about their tone, just like Keith Richards, the Edge, David Gilmour, and others. They have multiple effects, things that work with their amps and their guitars to get THEIR sound. Jerry McPherson uses 4 amps for 4 different types of gain - picking them for their killer tones and nothing else. Blackface Deluxe for cleans, Vox AC30TB for a bit of dirt, then Marshalls for the next 2 levels of gain/dirt. If Dimebag only typically uses 2 tones and can get 2 tones that sound good with his brain, fingers, cables, effects, guitar, and pickups, then that is all he needs. The key is not what other people can get to sound good. The question is what can you get to sound good. I think that most people cannot get solid state to sound as organic as a tube amp. But a studio guy like Huff, McPherson, or Landau, will play a mexistrat through a solid state piece of crap better than I can play a Custom PRS McCarty archtop through a Matchless Chieftain.
A big part of it is what is the gear that inspires YOU, as opposed to other people. If it pushes you creatively and makes playing enjoyable, then that is what is going to make you good at what you do. What has mojo for you may not have mojo for others.
You need to have gear that inspires you, that gives you that tone, etc. But you also need to learn how to max out that gear. If you want to be a great musician, push yourself musically, don't keep reading websites about what kind of gear to use or what you SHOULD sound like. Go try the gear to see what inspires you!
