Yep, that is one major advantage SW's live band as a solo artist has over PT; a far better 2nd guitarist next to SW. I cringed every time John Wesley would play a solo live with PT, as it was always...not good.
As for comparing PT to SW solo, sure, it is easy to look at a few songs from the last few albums and say, "Sounds like PT," but really, that means, "Sounds like classic SW." If you look at it from a micro level, not a macro one, the differences are pretty evident.