MakeShift
That's funny Danny.
I work pretty close to a Guitar Center. About once a week I will trot on over to just noodle around on a lunch hour and a half. I will plug into various amps just to give them a spin. I always grab a LP or a 335 off the rack so that I am playing something guitar and pick up-wise similar to my own rigs. Inevitably, no matter what amp I plug into, I will eventually dial in a tone similar to what I dial up on my own amp. I twist all of the gain and eq knobs around and eventually, I am playing my tone. Its as you say, I have a tone fingerprint.
What's funny is everytime I am thinking I want to buy a new amp, I go away frustrated that what I was playing does n't sound any significantly different or better than what I have. That could be a good thing I guess. The biggest change I have noticed as I age though, I am going lower wattage. I just don't have the need to blow out the windows any more.
Well see that's the only other reason to maybe get a new amp if you were shopping for one. The new amps today have a beefier pre-amp section. There's really no need to crank them as loud. Most times, the old amps being loud couldn't get enough drive or sustain so the power tubes needed to cook to get that sound. Ok, there's only one way to get that sound...a super loud amp.
However, you can come darned close with the new amps today. Keep in mind, there's a difference between the pre amp section and the power tube section. I still prefer a 12ax7 tube front end, but I could care less about power tube output. For the high gain guitar stuff I play, power amp tubes are moot and are not needed. Now if I needed that Agus Young tone, yeah, that's glowing output tube power. But even still, you can come close enough today to where you won't kill your ears and you just turn up a bit for some feedback while raising the gain stage to compensate.
I have a few Mesa 90/90's here and some Rocktron Velocity power amps that I use with my tube pre-amp. I can't tell the difference between the Mesa's and the Rocktron other than I smell the tubes when the Mesa is on. The tone is nearly identical. The cool thing there is, the Rocktron power amps are modeled off of tube output power....which is a bit different than trying to model pre-amp tubes. Output tubes, they can model easy enough. Pre-amp tubes, have been way more challenging.
Yeah Mike, after you play for 100 years like us, that tone print in your fingers is what it is. But sure, certain amps are going to bring other elements out of us. A tranny amp may sound cool, but the harmonics of it will be different than something with a tube pre section. Which sounds better to your ears? That's the one you go with. I do lots of lead guitar type stuff. Tranny amps just don't give me that same excitement and they don't react or sound like 12ax7's. I just need that at all times and prefer that sound. One thing that makes me cringe is when a guy does pinch harms on a tranny rig...it just sounds so piercing and synthetic. Then I listen to Eddie VH do pinch harms that hit you in the chest that are so hard and thick, it almost sounds like a coughing type sound with the pinch in there. Tranny amps and modelers don't get that. The only one I know that can is Guitar Rig believe it or not. :)
-Danny