Realizing somewhere along the way that I like big, clean amps. Now they're called "pedal platforms", but even as recently as 15 years ago, we mostly called them "big, clean amps".
I like playing on other kinds, but I realized I wasn't "missing out" on anything by not experimenting with 3-channel, 4-rectifier (?), 10-band EQ gain monsters. Nothing against them, but it wasn't how I played. Accepting that was key, and learning how to use it to my advantage.
I guess that extends to gear in general. It was easy in my 20's, with limited access to gear, to find myself influenced by other people's opinions of what was good.
Once I spent a few years learning which types of pedals/amps/guitars made which types of sounds, I realize I needed to trust myself and listen to my ears, not to the internet, to guide what I need to make the sounds I want.
But the Internet can be a boon to deciphering what your ears want. "I want to sound like The Cramps" - well, now it's easy to find out that you need a Superfuzz and a reverb, and what luck, you have a plethora of Superfuzzes to choose from at as low as $15! Would have been a game-changer in my own younger years in the '90s/early '00s, with "Boss/DOD/Rocktek" as the bulk of the local market. Trial and error had to lead me through, but I learned a lot on the way. Beneficial, sure, but a shortcut or two along the way might have been nice.
With amps, but gear in general, not forgetting why I was researching in the first place was the biggest epiphany. Because once you go from "I want this sound" to "use X to get this sound" to "which X is the best one?", you find yourself caught up in the minutae of gear obsession, or, even worse, "collecting".
So, listening to my ear, and letting my ear tell me that clean, high-headroom amps were what I needed. Final answer.
(Side note: had a minor game-changer recently that, because of that need for headroom, I need a 100W amp. Volume and dynamics are a big part of our sound for swoopy feedback and swirly fuzzes. I adore my 50W Fender, but it hits the ceiling into compression right before I'd like it to with regard to onstage volume. Understanding that it wasn't about needing more power, per se, but the headroom that the bigger amp will provide, was somewhat eye-opening, as well as a rather amusing excuse to explain to my wife why I need to save up for a 100W tube head. I'm sick of taking 2+ combo amps to gigs. For the record, she agrees it needs to be done. She complains that we sound "too small" onstage. And no husband wants to hear that.
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