The value of a memory?

[rhinocaster]

How many times do we comment on gear that we don't own anymore? Is there any way to be accurate with our "Memory" of a tone?

Like everyone else, I have a list in my head of the best guitars and amps I've ever played, but how much of that is real? How much of it is the fact that I loved a guitar that I had to sell when I lost a job? How much of it is the fact that my memory is colored by everything that was going on in my life at the time?

A beer that I really enjoy is Miller Genuine Draft. If I compare it to my favorite microbrews, it isn't very good at all. However, there was a summer evening spent on my brothers boat anchored off of Catalina Island. We had great cheeseburgers and MGD while the sun went down. The beer takes me back to that moment and I enjoy it mostly because of that.

It's hard enough to be objective at the moment something is happening, how possible is it to compete with a memory?

[~Abstract~]

Too many factors affect experience. Past experience has even more variables. IMO, it's NOT a good indicator of reality.

That said, it's all we've got.

[msgdsrf]

huh, ah, what were we talking about...

[StompBoxBlues]

It's why I try to advise folks that are thinking og selling a pedal they really like, to raise money for something new. From experience, you tend to remember the times you really cooked with that pedal, and later on you will often regret...and sometimes spend big bucks getting another, only to be sure that it isn't as good as the particular one you sold.

If you keep it, you can always compare it. And it stops you chasing tone that wasn't really what it was about. There are times too where I had a pedal (or guitar) that just sounded PERFECT at a gig or jam or practice...and after that night, I never get it the same again, cause really the pedal was only a small percent of it, the way I played, the band, all things clicking and the pedal maybe fitting perfectly in...that situation.

[Lightningrt]

I think these days, with the availability of video cams in phones etc, we have a lot more evidence that your memory plays tricks on you, and that things didn't happen the way you remembered them. A case in point :

I was watching a video of a performance by our band from about 4 years ago recently. My valves were shot and my amp was distorting too much. I remember that my Strats sounded better through it than my SG - but even then I wasn't happy at all that night with my sound. I also had my Leslie 16 cab in tow at this gig.

Anyway watching this video back I was amazed at how good I sounded, especially the Leslie cabinet, and even the Gibson SG did a good job on The Who's Can't Explain. My pedals then were, shall we say, semi-boutique, and they sounded good too - even my Boss PW10 wah.

Like the OP says about his Miller experience I think I remembered my mood more than the reality - the singer was clearly drunk on stage as usual, and his performance was poor, so, what with that and my amp I was definitely less than happy, which may be why I remembered the gig as a bad 'un for me.