[quote name='redstriper' post='1064146' date='Dec 19 2010, 10:55 PM']I have to be happy with my tone to play anything really worthwhile.[/quote]
Yup.
I agree that room acoustics and equipment and all manner of things influence your tone. Something as seemingly benign as the length of cable from bass to amp makes a difference. I think reaching for one singular "perfect" tone is a little misguided. But you should always try and get at least [b]a[/b] sound you're happy with everytime you play. Maybe others are different but if I'm thinking "gah, that open A sounds a bit weak" then I'm not playing as well as I could be, because I'm going to avoid playing it or be thniking about it constantly.
There a thousand different factors that affect your tone, stuff as silly as the ambient air temperature and the number of windows in the room, if you aim for one particular tone, you're not going to get it most of the time, but aim for a tone you're comfortable with.