This is possibly guitar-nerd-centric.

I play guitar but don't know any theory whatsoever - nor do I know much about gear, but I know that J has a ridiculous amount of gear producing his sound.

He's had a really distinctive sound from the start (when presumably he couldn't afford five-star equipment) so I've always assumed his sound is as much about style/method as actual gear/production.

Anyway. Whenever I hear a song that he's playing on(his own stuff or guesting) it's always obvious. Why is this?

Does anyone know enough about how he plays to explain it, musicologically like?