“You’re not going to get any sustain”: Analog Man legend Mike Piera thinks people who use digital amps and in-ear monitors are missing out on a huge part of guitar tone
In 2026, more and more touring guitarists are turning to digital amp modellers to get their tone, with increasingly professional-quality sound available in progressively smaller units offering unprecedented benefits in terms of how simple they are to transport and set up.
Many musicians also love the fact they can programme and save a tone, and it’ll sound the same at every show and at every venue. But some gear purists and analogue lovers think this is a problem.
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As Analog Man founder Mike Piera explains in a new interview on the Products of Music YouTube channel, there are some elements of analogue gear which digital amp modellers can’t replicate.
“I don’t personally try out the digital modelling things,” he says. “I have no interest in them. Because to me, it’s not any fun. Where are you gonna go next? Are you just gonna stream your sound over the internet and you don’t even have to play your guitar? I want to play my guitar. I want it to go through real pedals, real amps and real speakers.”
Piera explains how, in his opinion, rigs reliant mostly on digital elements and amp modellers often benefit from throwing a piece of analogue gear somewhere in the signal chain.
“I do get exposed to a lot of the digital modelling,” he goes on. “The King of Tone [classic overdrive pedal] sounds pretty good into a Kemper or some of those amps.
“For example, a client of mine, who is one of the best guitarists in the world, was playing at [New York City’s] Madison Square Garden… He had been using the King of Tone with his digital modelling amp…
“My friend who came with me, he was like, ‘Man, that guitar sounds amazing.’ And it did sound amazing, but it didn’t sound like a real guitar. It sounded fake. It was so great how you could hear everything, but I didn’t enjoy it. But there were a couple songs I thought sounded really good, and I checked with the guitar tech, and he did kick on the King of Tone for a couple of songs, and it helped. It sounded more real, I don’t know why. Maybe starting out with a sound with some analogue glitches and things and then going through all that digital stuff, it still preserves some of that tone.”
Piera admits that relying on digital modellers and PA systems as opposed to analogue guitar amplifiers is “certainly easier”, but asks if it’s “worth it”.
“[If you use in-ears and you’re going through the PA], you’re not going to get any sustain, because you get sustain by the sound going from your amplifier into your guitar,” he continues.
“A Strat – you’ll hear those strings vibrating. It gives you that Strat sound. I guess most of that comes from the strings, but your amplifier sound vibrating your guitar is quite important, and gives you that sustain. You’ll see guitarists moving around the stage to find that spot where they have the sustain.”
Many artists have made the switch, either fully or in part, to having their live setups powered by digital amp modellers in recent years.
Last year, Metallica guitar tech Chad Zaemisch reflected on the band’s decision to ditch real amps while playing live, and how it freed up stage space to ultimately put on a better show. “Not many people want to watch a band stand in front of their amp line,” he reasoned.
Other artists have sung the praises of digital amp modellers, with Jim Root revealing in 2024 that he was using a Neural DSP Quad Cortex with Slipknot. Elsewhere, Black Sabbath legend Tony Iommi revealed the same year he’d been tinkering about with a Kemper, admitting it was “quite hard to tell the difference” between it and traditional analogue amps.
However, Sheryl Crow guitarist Peter Stroud urged beginners to steer clear of amp modellers, arguing that using an analogue amplifier helps players better understand their instrument.
The post “You’re not going to get any sustain”: Analog Man legend Mike Piera thinks people who use digital amps and in-ear monitors are missing out on a huge part of guitar tone appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
