First, a Palmer actually gives you less tonal control than a mic
not by my experience.
do you own one?
have you used one?
i've heard the difference, between eq'ing a live mic, and the palmer
i can only tell, what i know 1st hand.
yes, the palmer has distinct tone settings hard wired into it, which you choose the closest one to your liking.
versus the variability of the positioning of the mic.
but this completely misses the point.
no one, has the time, or inclination, to spend forever positioning a mic on stage, only to have a stagehand accidentally bump it, and make all that work fly out the window.
most fellows throw a mic over the cabinet, hanging from the mic cable, lying on the grille cloth approximately centered on the speaker, and call it good.
this device is for those kinds of people, who understand the worth of having a single device that ALWAYS sounds the same way, that always gives a certain level of expected steadiness to the sound, that can be counted on.
the pluses outweight the minuses.
joe can do anything he wants, and choses to work with the palmer, i don't think he's thinking anything except he likes what he's getting from the palmer, if you don't, i'm sure he'll live with that.
i've spent 2 years recording with one now, after almost 26 years of recording experience with microphones, in everything from pro studios to my home studio.
i would urge anyone who is interested, to check out the recordings i've made with it.
here's a quick short set of links of various examples: