Quote Originally Posted by Katastrophe View Post
Jimi Hendrix had a couple of full size Marshall stacks on stage, and soon everyone wanted to look cool (like him) with those big stacks.
This is my general impression of why people use huge amps, along with marnold's point about how sometimes the best-sounding amps just happen to be high-wattage.

However, I did see some interview with Joe Bonamassa once where he said amp manufacturers are always coming up to him, telling him he has to try out their latest 30 watt amp, and that he won't be able to tell the difference between it and a 100 watt amp. He goes on to say that he will be able to -- something like he'll take the Pepsi challenge and win. So that whole thing makes me think that there must be something about big amps that he specifically needs/wants, and that it's not just about the appearance on stage. Don't know. I could be wrong, but I guess I just feel like I might be missing something.

Maybe if I get some big-*** amp at the other end of the guitar cable sometime, I might understand. Maybe someday?