rip-da-cut

In what ways do some amps/cabinets colour sound? Do any particular bass guitars have a distinctive character? I'm trying to find/or explain a distinctive sound I keep hearing in a lot of old reggae/dub numbers, maybe you guys can help me out, the sound I hear could be described as almost "vowel" like, for example in this Dennis Brown number, the bass appears to me to have a slight "e" formant/characteristic. [url="http://dl2.musicwebtown.com/rip_the_cut_/playlists/283991/2983425.mp3"]http://dl2.musicwebtown.com/rip_the_cut_/p...991/2983425.mp3[/url] I'm wondering if maybe bass tones recorded through distinctive sounding amps could cause the sound to lean towards particular vowels, maybe one bass/amp combination might have a subtle "e" voicing, the next an "o" could this be possible? Are amps or bass guitars ever talked about in these kinds of terms such as formant charictoristics?