What does "balanced" mean to you?

[BrunoBlack]

Not a Martin Guitar

[hamburg325]

Originally Posted by Haasome

Not a Martin Guitar

Thank goodness, not a Martin.

[Tnfiddler]

Originally Posted by hamburg325

"Balanced" means boring and dull with weak bass.

Sorta kidding. Sorta.

Originally Posted by hamburg325

Agree. When I hear or read that a guitar is "balanced," I head for the hills. Not my thing. I want bold, colorful, lively, expressive. Not a tight, clinical sound. (I won't name names!)

Originally Posted by Haasome

Not a Martin Guitar

Originally Posted by hamburg325

Thank goodness, not a Martin.

I definitely don’t fit this Mindset! I’ve got a Bass-heavy Martin D41 that I find dull and boring compared to my Bourgeois Banjo Killer that is one of the most evenly balanced guitars I’ve ever played. I find myself picking up the Banjo Killer over the D41 9 out of 10 times because it has a tone that is more bold, colorful, lively and expressive! The D41 is more of a one, trick pony where the Banjo Killer can do anything and do it well. I’m not saying I don’t love that Martin sound, but if I’d known then what I know now, I would’ve gotten a Bourgeois Vintage D or D150 versus the D41.

[rokdog49]

It’s a guitar that doesn’t have “neck dive”.
Example: Not a Gibson SG.

[hamburg325]

Originally Posted by Tnfiddler

I definitely don’t fit this Mindset! I’ve got a Bass-heavy Martin D41 that I find dull and boring compared to my Bourgeois Banjo Killer that is one of the most evenly balanced guitars I’ve ever played. I find myself picking up the Banjo Killer over the D41 9 out of 10 times because it has a tone that is more bold, colorful, lively and expressive! The D41 is more of a one, trick pony where the Banjo Killer can do anything and do it well. I’m not saying I don’t love that Martin sound, but if I’d known then what I know now, I would’ve gotten a Bourgeois Vintage D or D150 versus the D41.

To my ears, Bourgeois are "balanced" in the best sense of the word. They produce an even tonal response without sounding overdamped, dull, or antiseptic.

[Tico]

When it comes to guitar tone, balanced means absolutely nothing to me.

When it comes to quality audio gear balanced means a flat frequency response, so what you hear is exactly how the source material was intended to sound ... at least the frequency response.

But I love that a Martin sounds like a Martin and a Guild sounds like a Guild ... with all their peaks and dips in frequency response.

No guitar has a flat or neutral or "balanced" frequency response ... and I accept that is so.