Cactus Jack said:
Based on your tests is the difference in tone meaningful to the listener? If so does the difference remain intact when overdrive/distortion are introduced, or is it only noticeable when played clean?
My ear is terrible, I don't consider myself a musician, I've never gigged, I'm a self-taught living room hack and I personally can't hear a difference.
I look at it this way: for me this is not a science project. (I'm sure it is for some, and if that's how they find joy in it, then I hope they pursue it.) For me, experimenting with guitar materials is all about creating the tools that best help me express my art, and you express your art. And that, my friends, is subjective.
To that end, your perception is your reality. If I can't hear a difference, then for me there isn't one, and it's not worth worrying about. If Eric Johnson can hear a difference then for him there is one. Whether or not it's important to him is up to him.
That's why when I do shootout videos I don't use spectral analyzers or any of the other things people criticize me for. I don't care about that. I'm not trying to prove I'm right or convert anyone to my way of thinking. All I care about is what I hear. All you care about is what you hear. We can each hear something different, and both be right.
As far as the clean vs distortion thing, I can personally pick out more subtle differences with distortion than with a clean tone. All the time I listen to clean clips and can't really hear a difference, then I kick in the distortion and I'm like "ah....I hear it now."