I was watching a two-part video series a couple of weeks ago where Premier Guitar was interviewing Keith Urban’s guitar tech about Keith’s rig (Part I is here). During part two of the series, the guitar tech said something that struck me as he and the interviewer were talking about Keith’s compressor pedals. Keith uses four different compressors, and the tech was in the middle of describing how Keith sometimes uses them in combination. In the middle of his explanation, he sort of stumbled, then said, “…like they say, there’s really no wrong way to do this. If it sounds cool, then it’s right.”
I always say a corollary to that to myself: If it moves you, then go with it. But I think I’m going to use “If it sounds cool, then it’s right” from now on. And really, that’s the point about any gear we buy. There’s no right or wrong when it comes to gear and gear combinations. If it pleases you, then it’s right… for you. Of course, listen to constructive input from other people, but in the end, it’s on you to find the tone that fits you. No one else can do that for you, which reminds me of another saying that I used when working with teenagers years ago and giving a talk on peer pressure:
The only real freedom we have is our freedom to choose; unfortunately, we often choose to give up that freedom in exchange for acceptance.
I know I’m getting philosophical, but to me, conviction, personal power, feeling strong, what have you, come from our freedom of choice. We lose our personal power when we give up our freedom to choose. For instance, how many times have we all fallen prey to hero-worship and get gear that our idols use, only to find that it just doesn’t work for us? How many of us have been on the forums and have blindly purchased gear based upon the hype built around it? There’s a reason why there’s so much practically brand-new stuff up on The Gear Page’s Emporium on a constant basis: People have fallen for the hype, then get the gear and realize it’s not for them. I’ve committed this error enough times myself to always qualify my recommendations with something akin to “try before you buy.”
Freedom of choice is crux of this article and what the saying, “If it sounds cool, then it’s right” is all about – at least to me. Where we are in life is the result of the choices we make; congruently, our tone is the result of the choices we’ve made in gear. Some choices are not as positively productive as others, but that’s life. And that’s how we learn.
Guitar Gear 
I think the best advice for someone trying to mimic the tone of one of their favorite tunes or players is approach the tone from an entirely different manner. Like EVH? No need to have all of Eddie’s gear or a high dollar guitar to mimic him. Get yourself a decent tube amp and get a Wampler PInnacle Dist I guarantee it will EVH your brains out, add a phaser and you’re off to the races. Eddie likes his phase into the Marshall head and some try and mimic this by putting a phaser before a gain pedal. I hate that result myself I think it sounds terribly reduced in bandwidth and sweep. All my modulation is in my amp loop chain as with my delay and reverb. This includes Chorus and Phase. Sounds better and I can generate so many tone options w my rig using vastly differing setups.
Same w Page, I get that tone from the best albums in an entirely different means and it kills.
I also find in the pursuit of cool tones I follow my own ear and do not try and run chains like some do. I love Robin Trower tones and Jeff Beck stuff and I get that tone in an entirely different manner. Robin runs his Vibe into his RTO and old Fulldrive (gan 9:00 on RTO and all down on Fulldrive) I use a Wampler Ecstasy drive through my half stack Carvin V3, not a Marshall (also costing half as much) , my OD is before the DejaVibe (amp in). Just kills. The V3 has the ability to dial into a lot of different amps like a dark JCM 800, super clean headroom or ubergain. When I sustain a note it warbles into feedback just like Trower but using the amazing Wampler drive and not set very gainy at all.
The thing you have to remember is that no matter the rig you do not have the fingers and touch of the other guy, they will sound pretty much like themselves no matter what they play through. Copy is a means to an end, use it to learn and understand and strive to teach yourself to improvise and create.
The best lesson and teaching in regard to learning music theory and interval scale progression is the simple axiom, “if it sounds right, it is right”. Also learning to improvise, I recently heard Yngwie Malmsteen comment the same on the above and that he never plays anything verbatim also the old classical masters never intended their pieces to be strictly followed note for note without any sense of spontaneity or improvisational skill, that is stale, dull and lifeless, music is a living breathing creative muse, smartest thing Yngwie ever hit on.
+1 to that!