I don't it's Lindsey's intent to impress the pants off people necessarily, though I have no doubt he realizes how impressed people are with his playing. And I'm sure he laps it up. But I belief the gratification he gets from it has to do mostly with taking that style of fingerpicking to a different level.
Big Love is not prohibitively difficult to play (even though I have yet to get it) but it is fast, and when you are playing that fast, it takes a lot more presence of mind and skill to recover from a mistake. I think most people, guitar players or not, realize he is using effects and they realize the guitar is plugged in. But then again, I could be mistaken. I am perhaps more attuned to that stuff than folks who just listen.
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