Because their last priority is sound!!!
Upon opening the latest Guitar World magazine I was shocked to learn that Steve Vai uses a Fender amp for his clean sounds. What happened to 3 years ago when he promoted his Carvin Legacy as IT in terms of clean and distortion? Remember that he was downgrading from a Bogner XTC. Then he goes on to say in the video that Legacy combos are still great amps but the Fender adds a new dimension to his sound. Furthermore, he goes to say that he is planning to design a Carvin Legacy 2 with an additional channel. What the...? Why didn't he stick to the XTC in the first place which already had 3 channels built in and with some minor tweaking from Rheinhold would actually turn any Carvin amp to crap? Regardless of sound qualify, my point is that Artists should qualify that they sound the way the do because of the TOTAL system and not because of one particular component and that they give endorsement at that SPECIFIC POINT IN TIME ONLY. Look at his Gear Diagram in the latest Guitar World and you will understand that it ain't only because of his Carvin Legacy.
Now a month before that, I was reading the Eddie Van Halen Issue and he says that the EVH III is his best amp to date. And yet, why the hell didn't he design the 5150 to sound as good as the EVH III? I bought one Peavey 5150 head and good riddance. I had enough sense to realize that it sounded inferior to the amp that it was copying. So,stay tuned for EVH XX? Now for all I care, it could be the best sounding amp head for US$2,000 but my point is that when will artists finally deliver sincere goods that have no attachments of endorsement deals and free equipment and when will they stop putting their names on amps, effects and guitars that they know they will outgrow in the future. The number 1 offender is Fender which started this and Gibson as a close number 2. PRS is also starting to this today. By the way, I have heard more crappy sounding Santana USA guitars than good sounding ones. Fender YJM has its lastest incarnation now which according to a close YJM fan friend of mine who was able to test 4 new models a few weeks ago still sounded like crap compared to the older YJMs.
Back to Steve Vai, hasn't everybody wondered why after 20 years of JEM production Ibanez still cannot come up with JEM guitars to beat EVO and FLO? The answer is because wood is too variable to control and Steve Vai says this in the guitar world video. In short, out of the thousands of JEMS produced, only BO was added and the rest of the guitars are substandard vis - a -vis EVO and FLO. Because if it sounded any better, Ibanez would send it first to Steve Vai instead of you. By the way, I have yet to hear an Ibanez that sounds really killer.
Take a good look at Joe Satriani. I have all his DVDs and I play them back across a good hi fi system, not the high end ones like KRELL but definitely not your plain vanilla asian or japanese sound system. When I put in his latest DVD with his signature JSX Peavey Amps, I was floored because I never remembered hearing Joe sound so NGONGO. His pick attack was missing in his lead runs. His highs sounded harsh. Though I know that it was only a DVD and it will be a different experience live I knew I was living with much better gear everyday of my life.
Nowadays between manufacturers and Artists I tend to believe small high end manufacturers more because you know that they have a specific biased agenda and that if they do not deliver on their expensive price the market will yank them out of existence versus the name brands who use looks and endorsement to sell their bad sounding gear (on the average) to guitarists who never had the opportunity to get exposed to good tone. Artist agenda is not so clear. They can be swayed by endorsement deals and looks and their ego while short changing equipment manufacturers who really know how to deliver good tone. Unfortunately it is also happening locally, you know of local artists who are endorsing a Korean Brand or Korean Made Guitar but after a while I don't see them anymore playing that specific Korean Brand or Korean made guitar.
And I blame all of us for trusting so much our beloved idols ...