Has age or decent gear changed your ear for tone?

[Boogie]

...guitar tone was all about Boston - Tom Scholz or Kerry Livgren tone or Neil Schon, nothing else mattered.

Corrected for my pursuits as a youngster. Now, it’s just my tone improved by David Grissom.

 

[Slivermoon]

Well, valid points maybe there is (at least) one more dimension to it:
- sure "ears" change, but..."shine on you crazy diamond" on an F-style guitar+clean amp still sounds great - no matter what
- definitely, since I have really good gear...all improved...also the playing. If only all learners had access to high grade guitars and amps...
+ the sound of your guitars also does change: I got some now...about 30 year old guitars (electric Ibanez and acoustic Yamaha) and they have built up better sustain, sound louder (with no amp).
I would assume the wood just gets "better with age". So...advise is to keep the "reasonable" quality guitars.

I was also able to test/own a brand new ES-345 and a 38 year old one. With no amp attached, the new one sounded "disappointing" (tin can, just very trebly).
So the PRS approach of drying/preparing the wood seems to work a lot better.

Still, I assume there is a lot of "great stuff" in mid-priced models (of all kinds) once they are about 15 - 20 years old.

Have fun trying...

PS: Agree that some days exactly same kit/amp settings sounds strangely differently. Then there are the days were "anything goes" > use them well.

 

[JSanta585]

I think this is a great topic. When I really started getting serious about guitar when I was about 16, the tone in my head was John Petrucci (heck, his playing too). I've noticed now that I've been focusing a lot more of my time and effort on stuff like Al Di Meola and Guthrie Govan, my appetite for the JP tone has really gone away. I was playing for about an hour last night working through some fusion stuff, and I switched channels on my Helix to my favorite JP patch, and I honestly didn't care for it! I found that I was getting a fuller, better tone with a more English voiced channel. Dunno - I move around in phases. I'm sure next thing will be back to a very clean tone for jazz when I'm working on finger style solo play. I can say this though, I've become less concerned with sounding like someone else, and have instead cared more about what I like in my head.

 

[Steve's addiction]

The older I get the more I ignore my favorite players and enjoy my own tone
I think that's more to my improved playing skills than age or equipment. Once you develop the desired skills for the style you like, you start to listen for the tone that fits the style. At least that's how it worked for me

 

[watelessness]

I feel like if your taste in music broadens as you age, you'll become more into different tones as well. When I was young guitar tone was all about MOP James Hetfield tone, nothing else mattered.

i see what you did there, serge. however, you failed to mention that as one ages one's affinity for blue grows.

i do not recall having much concept of tone in my youth. now i perceive the opposite to be true. i just bought another drum kit because it is mahogany and has great tone but very little sustain so i'm getting a great deal of isolation from the mics, much more than from my birch and ash kits. twenty years ago i could hear quality tone but couldnt describe it. thirty years ago it was all about the biggest and most colorful kit.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

i see what you did there, serge. however, you failed to mention that as one ages one's affinity for blue grows.

If you mean your eyesight starts going as you age... you're correct.