finally adding an intro for myself after Rogue's post inspired it...
Hi!
I'm 27 and I've owned one amp in my life (a
Marshall Lead 12). Zero traditional pedals, but I do own a
Boss ME-30 multi-effect pedal, bought new in 1994 to complement the Marshall. I wasn't entirely happy with the Lead 12, but it was free, I didn't have money to spend, and I wasn't really trying to do anything serious -- just a few high school talent show gigs.
After HS, I strummed the guitar off-and-on. Barely kept in practice.
Fast forward to four years ago (geez, has it been that long!? -- almost to the day! Oct 4th, '05), and I picked up a used PODxt Live off a forum where people record live shows. Saw the Variax jack on it, looked it up, liked the looks of the 700, liked the reviews, put in a very low bid for one on eBay and much to my surprise, won my first auction. The music bug was back.
Another friend was spending a lot on music studio gear, so that didn't "help" -- but on the other hand, it's also probably what made me more particular about my sound. My XTL was not "good enough" -- I could eventually hear how it didn't sound like a real amp and I started looking more seriously at the Vettas (largely because NIN used them) so that planted the appropriate budget seed.
Roughly a year after picking up the XTL, I heard about the Axe-Fx. I didn't like the clips. But I couldn't find *any* substantially negative reviews on it, and the positives were absolutely glowing. I read the Music Gear Source interview with Cliff (sadly, this is no longer online), saw a couple U2 vids on YouTube, and the deal was sealed.
So for me... I never "switched" to digital in the traditional sense.
I've always wanted a compact portable unit with many effects (like my ME-30 from 15 years ago). And I've never had tubes to be snobby about (microphone purchases might change that).
Now... music is roughly a quarter of my life -- graphic arts, programming, and life-in-general being the other three fourths.