How expectation changes the way we perceive guitar tone

[GuessTheGuitar]

Hi everyone,

I’m new here and wanted to start a discussion.

Something I’ve been thinking about lately is how expectation and prior knowledge affect the way we perceive guitar tone.

Not in terms of which guitar to buy, but purely on a listening level.

For example:

• Does knowing the brand change how we hear a sound?
• If two guitar recordings are identical in performance and signal chain, but labeled differently, do we perceive them differently?
• How much of “tone” is actually sound, and how much is context?

I’m curious how players here think about:

• blind A/B listening
• removing brand information only during listening
• separating perception from expectation

This isn’t about recommending instruments or helping anyone choose a guitar — just about how we hear and interpret sound.

Interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks!

 

[Sam SG]

I think there is a certain amount of brand perception.
Guitars are wood and metal hardware with pickups. If you had two strats...a Squier that had an exceptionaly good resonance to it and a Fender CS strat that was master reliced but a dead peace of wood but had fancy CS pickups. Chances are 50% of players would percieve it better by spec price and desirabilitie.
Hell i once played a 1955 hardtail strat A HOLY GRAIL....
i liked my beat up 79' strat i had at the time better. But most people would percieve the 55 better cause its worth a small house....

 

[Chistopher]

It makes a lot bigger difference than people give it credit for.

How many times have you been playing your guitar, thinking it sounds perfect, and then the next day you play the same rig without touching a single setting and think it sounds bleh?

It's a well documented fact that preconceived notions can affect our we perceive things, I feel this applies doubles to guitar, where nothing is truly imperical

 

[80's_Metal]

People listen with their eyes (and their wallets) way more than they care to admit.

Guitarists claim that they know what they are talking about (ie: the laughable tone wood discussions etc. ) and as soon as you give them a blind sound test they will fail and blame something else such as a faulty test design.

Also, what you hear in a room is very difficult to convey to anyone else, even the best recording techniques can only get you so close.

 

[jeremy]

I think there is a certain amount of brand perception.
Guitars are wood and metal hardware with pickups. If you had two strats...a Squier that had an exceptionaly good resonance to it and a Fender CS strat that was master reliced but a dead peace of wood but had fancy CS pickups. Chances are 50% of players would percieve it better by spec price and desirabilitie.
Hell i once played a 1955 hardtail strat A HOLY GRAIL....
i liked my beat up 79' strat i had at the time better. But most people would percieve the 55 better cause its worth a small house....

and maybe you just were used to the sound of the 79 so it was more familiar. theres a lot that goes into this, and as mentioned, more of it isnt empirical.

 

[Sam SG]

and maybe you just were used to the sound of the 79 so it was more familiar. theres a lot that goes into this, and as mentioned, more of it isnt empirical.

Mostly the neck feel/shape and it didnt resonate in my hand and through my chest which is what I look for in a guitar anyway but it just sounded lifeless IMO
Now my freinds 65' trasition strat( all late 64 stamps) is another story thats glorious.

 

[weepingminotaur]

TBH, I've given up on any Youtube guitar demos, because 95% of the time, all I'm hearing is a. how good the guitarist is and b. their amp + Youtube's crappy audio compression.

A good demo can get me hyped about a guitar, but that's about it. If I buy a guitar, I am buying for ergonomics, features, neck feel, pickup type (hum vs. single), and, yes looks in some degree. But I also don't care about buying specific brands. I'm not a Fender or Gibson cultist and I refuse to pay more money for a logo on a headstock.

 

[Sam SG]

TBH, I've given up on any Youtube guitar demos, because 95% of the time, all I'm hearing is a. how good the guitarist is and b. their amp + Youtube's crappy audio compression.

A good demo can get me hyped about a guitar, but that's about it. If I buy a guitar, I am buying for ergonomics, features, neck feel, pickup type (hum vs. single), and, yes looks in some degree. But I also don't care about buying specific brands. I'm not a Fender or Gibson cultist and I refuse to pay more money for a log on a headstock.

Yea you cant go by demos IMO.
Look at 12ax7 shoot outs( i have a box full vintage and new). Half the guys play a loop through a looper. Most of what a 12ax7 swap does IME is changes the way the amp feels subtely.
Even pickup demos...they never usually tell you what heights the pickups were set at or if they had been optimized by ear. So you might be hearing a factory pup set way to an extreme verse a new pickup optimized.
Thats why i only buy gear i can play or have played someone elses and liked.

 

[Chistopher]

Now that I'm just dipping my toes in the waters of guitarbuilding, I'm discovering that there is a lot more that goes into guitars than players realize.

If you have a vintage style Telecaster and a modern style Telecaster with the same pickups, you might think the biggest differences are 21 vs 22 frets or 3 saddles versus 6, but you could completely neglect to notice that the bridge pickup is in a different spot. Then you're stuck wondering what causes the bridge pickup to sound twangier on the old style, and you'll just attribute it to vintage magic.

 

[Securb]

People definitely hear with their eyes. I bought a Chandler Tube Driver and a JC120, and had it going through a 4x12 cabinet with Celestion speakers. The band in the practice room next door knocked on the door because they wanted to check out my new Marshall. Granted, the Chandler Tube Driver is pretty much a Marshall preamp, and the JC is a very neutral pedal platform. I would load the same rig into a club, and some bozo would tell me I should get a Marshall.

 

[magillver]

Trust your ears, but make the time to learn what it is that you're listening to/for... When I was a kid, it was all about LOUD, so unfortunately I traded away multiple guitars that were awesome guitars, that I didn't appreciate because tone meant nothing to me at the time (gently kicks self)...

 

[uOpt]

I do blind testing.

I copy two samples 10 times each. My listening program has hotkeys to move the file being played to different folders. Afterwards I can see how many files were correctly identified.

The added benefit is that it trains you to be able to spot real differences easier, so you are able to listen with less bias. I also don't really believe in specific brands sounding better, especially not guitars and basses. Pickups maybe.