"Modeling tech has gotten so good I doubt many guitarists would be able to tell the difference": Analog vs. digital rig build challenge - here’s how two very different players would spend $2,500

ES-335 and Boden in a ring.

Okay, so we’ve all been there, deep in a gear rabbit hole, arguing with ourselves about whether that vintage-voiced tube amp is worth the back pain, or whether a cutting-edge digital amp modeler could do the job better and leave change for a decent guitar. It’s one of the great ongoing debates in the guitar world, and frankly, I'm tired of just talking about it. So I decided to settle it – or at least try to.

My fellow Guitar World comrade, Matt McCracken, and I have each been given a hypothetical $2,500 budget with one mission: to build the best complete, gigable rig possible. Now, Matt and I have very different philosophies about our gear choices, and the setups we ended up with couldn’t be more different if they tried.