SOMETIME AROUND THE late Seventies or early Eighties, guitarists realized that the best way to get studio sound on stage was by using studio gear. Sometimes this simply wasn’t possible (for example, no one in their right mind would take an EMT plate reverb on tour) but even when it was, the equipment was usually cumbersome and prohibitively expensive to all but the most well-paid stars and session players.
The digital revolution has changed that, and now studio-grade processing is