I've done some national shows with touring bands. most all the
guitar players I've seen used 1x12 combos. non of them relyed on the amp to monitor their own sound. even petrucci runs his volume very low. anyone giggin should be using in'ears. I know its fun to have a crankin amp. but even rehersals you use a PA for the singer. the band should be in the PA even then. drummers play loud, they will at least fatigue your ears, but more likely damage them. in ears are not expensive. you run the mic on your cab through your transmiter on the way to the PA. then you also get a mix back from the PA. so you have full control over your level as well as the band in your 'ears'. this way you will never again say you couldn't hear your self no matter where you are on stage. also, you will hear the whole band and it will sound like a CD playing in your ears. you won't have ringing when its all over, you won't have damaged ears, you'll hear yourself perfectly. and it cost about the same as a 4x12 cab. by the way. you'll only be mic'ing one speaker, so theres no need for more than one. A lot of PA's are not run stereo in the house mix. so counting on having stereo imaging isn't always going to work.
that said. I know its darn cool to have crankin 4x12's. I had a whole boogie set up with Strategy 400 pwr amp, MKIII, and 2 4x12's. it would rip your head off. but it is expensive and completely unnecessary. when I was doing pro shows. it was a fender hotrod combo most the time.
