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Bassists whose tone floors you

Funky Dunky

By Funky Dunky,
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visog Experienced

visog

Posted
Posted

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1415279181' post='2598680']
For me, Chris Squire's sound has always been one which makes me go 'wow'.

Other bass sounds that I love include Jaco, Bruford era Jeff Berlin (hate his sound now), Jimmy Johnson, Steve Swallow and Anthony Jackson. I never really tried to emulate the tone of any of this group, though.
[/quote]

Squire usually gets a good tone... although some albums he's killed by the mix - Topographic and Relayer cases in point: killer playing but mushy. Fragile however is just stunning in terms of his tone and presentation in the mix.

Agree with the Jeff Berlin point - he had that lovely P-Bass Barts sound on Bruford and also Holdsworth's Road Games; the latter really show-casing his dense chordal playing really well. Today however, he's just got this sour chorus tone. Lovely Jimmy Johnson too who get's that cavernous Alembic fundamental tone. I think this comes out best on Chad Wackerman's first solo album, also with Allan Holdsworth. Steve Swallow's got that weird Parker & felt pick thing going on. Anthony Jackson for me is a bit 'emperor's new clothes'. Sometimes I think he ain't that good and then I think maybe he is. Currently I'm erring towards astounding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rxYw7Y45Eo

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Painy Proficient

Painy

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Posted

For me it's Jaz Lochrie on Paul Rogers' Now album. Particularly the track 'Overloaded', Glenn Hughes' sound on the Feel album and Pat Badger on Pornographiti.
Weirdly enough, if you asked me if I prefer the sound of fingers or a pick then I'd say fingers 99 times out of a hundred and yet two out of three of my favorite bass tones are from pick players!

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toneknob Veteran

toneknob

Posted
Posted (edited)

TNK from "801 - Live", with Bill MacCormick (also of Quiet Sun and Matching Mole) on bass. This version is a bit woolly in the bottom, check out the remastered version if you like it (here it is on spotify [url="http://open.spotify.com/track/30X9TJeJ6FIgU6g7OWIRPe"]Phil Manzanera – TNK (Tomorrow Never Knows) - Live[/url])

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkGXUn0Kuuw[/media]

Edited by toneknob
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merello Experienced

merello

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Posted (edited)

Tony Levin.
Always brings something to a song...even the John Lennon ones!
I think Levin is quoted that on meeting Lennon in the studio for the first time he was told, 'I heard you're good. Don't play TOO many notes!'

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im3AUiCGqnk#t=46"]http://www.youtube.c...m3AUiCGqnk#t=46[/url]

This is the original version of 'I'm Losing You' that ended up over-produced on Double Fantasy.
[quote][b]“I’M LOSING YOU,” [i]ANTHOLOGY,[/i] (1998):[/b][color=#211F1F] Skip the more polished version found on [/color][i]Double Fantasy,[/i][color=#211F1F] which doesn’t — for some reason — include the original take’s crack group of sidemen: Guitarist Rick Nielsen and drummer Bun E. Carlos from Cheap Trick, and do-anything bassist Tony Levin. [/color]
[color=#211F1F]There’s a crunchy, kinetic sizzle here, as John looks back at his own alcohol-induced mid-1970s dumbassed-ness. We get an even deeper sense of the return of Lennon’s muse — the vibrant, angry yang to his bread-making house-husband yin. Levin’s chunky bass part is also far more prominent in this mix: “Playing with John, that was great — an honor and a huge musical pleasure for me,” Levin tells us. “Not a lot to report about it except that, of course, I wish there had been more.”[/color]
[color=#211F1F]That this version somehow ended up on the cutting-room floor is another reason to reconsider [i]Double Fantasy,[/i] which often ended up more gossamer than necessarily great. Lennon was, at his zenith, a scratched-and-dented treasure, laconic and all edge, and too often on this project he seemed to have settled into middle-aged domesticity — both figuratively and, by employing the prevailing pop veneer, literally. [/color]
[color=#211F1F]That’s blown apart by his muscular alternate take on “I’m Losing You,” which emerges with a sinewy new grit. We hear more distinctly the way Lennon was beginning to understand what lay before him — middle age, a settled life, marriage and parenthood — and, how much fight was still left in him. Lennon, blessedly clearer of voice, sounds like a rebel again.[/color]
[/quote]

Just bumped a Basschat original thread!
[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/70403-john-lennon-with-cheap-trick-and-tony-levin/"]http://basschat.co.u...and-tony-levin/[/url]

Edited by merello
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Dazed Mentor

Dazed

Posted
Posted

It's a never ending growing list.
Mark King 80-90s
Pino on most of the tracks he played with Gary Numan, D'angelo and countless others.
Les Claypool. Flea. Michael Manring. Brian Bromberg. Daniel Romeo. Ben Ezra. Stu Zender.
Robert Trujillo - infectious Grooves.
Whoever played bass for Pharrell @ Glastonbury this year.
McCartney.
Recently Joe Dart of Wulfpeck.
Jaco obviously.

Very rarely the noise I make :lol:

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Lw. Proficient

Lw.

Posted
Posted

The guy from Brand New Heavies always has a brilliant tone for me, recorded or live.

Saw them in a very small venue a couple of years ago & the way his notes were cutting through was just incredible - it had no bearing on the equipment I use but he did happen to be using a Fender Jazz & a Warwick, can't remember the amp.

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thebigyin Community Regular

thebigyin

Posted
Posted

[quote name='AM1' timestamp='1414868822' post='2594233']
Dennis Dunaway. What an under-rated bass player. Not just for tone but also phrasing and groove. Here's an example, such a simple bassline but with amazing feel and a classic example of a bassline with composition which fits the song perfectly and compliments the drums. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1ISnXBe23Q"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1ISnXBe23Q[/url]
[/quote] Hell Yeah love his Bass Tone.....this guy was the reason I wanted to play Bass......Blue Turk......wow.

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Subbeh Enthusiast

Subbeh

Posted
Posted (edited)

Cass Lewis, I knew how good a bass player he was but it wasn't until I was dragged along to see Skunk Anansie live that I was just floored by his tone and playing.
This vid isn't the best quality but gives an idea, he really did blow me away. Awesome taste in basses too!

[media]http://youtu.be/AwhYsGXKJMg[/media]

Matt Wong, always seemed to play a 5 string 'Ray, no longer with Reel Big Fish but I just fell in love with his tone and playing, fantastic feel and sense of melody and really inspired me to get out of a rut my
playing had been stuck in.

[media]http://youtu.be/gql9220Qon8[/media]

And basically anything off the debut Rage Against The Machine album, tone is just flatout badass!

Never occured to me before that so many of my favourite bass tones were from Musicman basses.

Edited by Subbeh
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DunRockin Rookie

DunRockin

Posted
Posted

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1414799937' post='2593574']
Jack Casady. Here's an extract from 'A Child Is Coming' (Jefferson Starship, 'Blows Against The Empire'...). I've skipped the jaunty intro, this is where the bass solo starts. Very effective use of feedback; enjoy...

[url="http://youtu.be/PyFIBEvNXbM?t=3m18s"]http://youtu.be/PyFIBEvNXbM?t=3m18s[/url]

Emulate..? Not possible, but it's one of the reasons I like hollow or semi-hollow instruments so much. So much tonal variation just by approaching or distancing from the cab. Sometimes it's even good..! ;)
[/quote]
Casady! I so agree. Long before I took up a bass I loved Casady's sound as much as Kaukonen's (who made me a gtr player first). I love the almost clinical clank on the Baxters album, too.
Aside from Casady, I loved Joe Osborn's once ubiquitous 60s session tone and Chris Hillman's sound on the early Byrds albums.
Loved so much of the American mid/later 60s session players tone - I imagine they were all on Pbasses. :rolleyes: ;)
And that muted UK 60s session players sound (eg 'Everlasting Love')...
And MMT period Macca, of course!

Presumably all of the above using flats.... :)

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molan Veteran

molan

Posted
Posted

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1414884772' post='2594446']
There are lots, and lots, of players whose technical skill really impresses me but every now & then I hear something that tonally just floors me (as per the OP question).

The most recent has been Lee Sklar. I was in a pub and there was a music TV channel on in the background. Something came on and one of the very first things I heard was this lovely bass tone. Turned around to check who it was and there was Lee Sklar lurking at the back of the picture.

I was with a few band mates and pointed him out and they all stopped to listen - one of them said 'you should buy one of those basses and try to get that sound'. I just gave him a rueful smile. . .

I've since bought the album and some of his playing is just sublime, not a flash run in site, just classy playing with beautiful tone :)
[/quote]

So I went to see Mr Sklar in person on Sunday night and, by complete chance, we ended up sitting in the front row at floor level directly in front of him. Literally no more than 2-3 metres away.

His tone live was even better than on the album. Just his Warwick Star Bass, a little Hartke head and an Ampeg 1x15". From where we were sitting we would mostly have just been hearing this setup rather than any PA reinforcement & his tone was just sublime.

Beautiful playing right through every song, perfect arrangements, subtle flourishes here & there and, unsurprisingly, the interplay between him, Waddy Wachtel & Russ Kunkel was just great as well.

First man to make me lust after a Warwick ever!

Not that this would make me even remotely sound like him of course - his one just looked beautifully finished :)

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