Ah, sure. The perpetual analogue vs digital guitar gear debate. It divides the guitar group like few different matters, with distinguished and well-qualified voices on either side.

Final month, Analog Man legend Mike Piera weighed in on digital guitar gear and amp modellers, saying those that use them are lacking out on an enormous a part of guitar tone. He added that digital amp modellers are “not any enjoyable”. 

In the meantime, Joe Bonamassa not too long ago questioned the cool issue of digital gear, pondering whether or not Eddie Van Halen would have made the identical splash have been he utilizing a Neural DSP Quad Cortex as an alternative of classic analogue gear. JoBo is, after all, an avid classic gear collector – with two bodily places in Nashville and LA housing his huge assortment – however we’ll park that for now…

However not everyone seems to be married to the concept that classic is all the time higher; in November, AFI guitarist Jade Puget revealed he’d ditched tube amps in favour of a digital Line 6 Helix as the previous made him really feel “constrained”.

Yep, the pool of digital converts is increasing, however don’t rely the Black Crowes guitarist Wealthy Robinson amongst them fairly but.

In a brand new interview within the newest print concern of Guitar World, Robinson says that digital amp modellers are “getting shut, however you’ll be able to by no means account for the physics of a room”.

He explains: “What’s the humidity like? What’s the oxygen stage like? Are you at excessive altitude or low altitude? What’s the form of the room? The place is the microphone being positioned? All of these items can have a giant impact in your sound.

“Your tone that comes out will all the time be what it’s, however every little thing else must be considered. 

“Then there’s the sensation side. You’ve gotten this symbiotic relationship together with your amp. You’re actually linked to it. You’re plugged in and feeling that. It’s vibrating the ground and also you’re listening to it, feeling it and taking part in with it. I feel that’s when it turns into like this huge oscillation. You’re in it.”

A part of Robinson’s favour of analogue gear over digital is his dislike of computer systems, as he explains.

“The entire goal of rock ‘n’ roll is to [play with] abandon. It might go off the rails at any time. If everyone is on a pc listening to a click on monitor taking part in their music across the mild present moderately than the precise songs, there’s no likelihood of greatness or failure… There’s nothing extra boring than sitting at a pc.”

The Black Crowes have a sequence of tour dates deliberate all through 2026, making stops in Australia, Japan, the US, and Europe. For tickets and a full checklist of dates, head to their official web site. Additionally they have a brand new album out, A Pound of Feathers. Take a look at one in every of its singles, Profane Prophecy, under:

Sam is the Affiliate Information Editor for Guitar.com and MusicTech. Totally immersed in music tradition for almost all of his life, Sam has performed guitar for 20 years, studied music expertise and manufacturing at college, and likewise written for the likes of Guitar World, Whole Guitar, Metallic Hammer and MusicRadar.