ok but at what point does it become subjective to taste??? if you had worked on a SSL J or duality or aws 900+ and made hit records that everyone raves about the "sound and vibe" and then worked on an SSL G wouldn't it work the same way???
if andy wallace mixed a whole record using a brand new ssl board and a reissued la610 for vocals, it wouldn't sound good and have its own character???
We are dealing with an industry where EVERYTHING is subjective, but I think the point would be that certain pieces of gear "lend themselves" to a specific sound.
Sure, you could use a mackie eq, RNC, and a FAtso to try to obtain a warm, tube-like compression character... but why not just use a UA175 (for instance) that already has that character?
Here's a little thought...Thru the timeline of rock music recording history, electrical engineers have been shaping the way that we hear music. As they tweak their designs in workshops, bands are also crafting thier sound at home. In one magic moment, the pinnacle of technology and music create a "benchmark" that all music after it will be compared to. Arguably, the Beatles have created the most popular benchmark that people (not only music professionals, but also the general listening audience) are familiar with. That "sound" has been around for 50 years and unfortunately, you cant undo history. It is what it is.
If those electrical engineers had INA134 chips instead of transformers, resistors, and caps, then our perception of music today would be completely different... but thats not how it happened. They created gear with tubes, paper oil caps, and carbon composite resisitors with designs that have distortion, thump, and limited bandwidth that would make any contemporary electrical engineer cringe! Again, you cant undo history and thats what has shaped the opinion of what sounds "good".
Going back to the J vs. G thing (and new designs vs. old designs in general) the newer models are created to be as true to the source material as possible. They do that by limiting all of the cringe worthy stuff above. Essentially, what you put in is what you get out. The old designs that have distortion and grit created a more complex waveform, and if you can get that distortion to be in 2nd or 3rd order harmonics, then you will be adding sonic characteristics that seem to be more musical to your source material.
Eventually when the vintage gear's components age to a point where they are out of spec, its going to sound like complete garbage. Just because its vintage doesnt automatically make it good... but it sure does have a better chance out of the gate
again... this is just my long winded opinion.
