When you hear a song and KNOW who the bass player is due to the sound...

[JJTee]

2 hours ago, geoham said:

My view on Pino is that he had a very distinctive sound earlier in his career. It was clearly quite influential - the bass part on Nikita does sound quite like Pino to me too.
 

But since then, he's covered such a diverse range of genres and styles of playing that I think most bassists would often struggle to recognise his playing. Especially on many of the radio-friendly pop tracks he's appeared on. This is in no way a criticism - he's being hired to do a job and he clearly does it very well! 

Very good point. Early era fretless Pino was/is very distinctive…. er, well, apart from when it’s Dave Paton!

[SteveXFR]

I looked up the Marshall Superbass on YouTube and nearly all the videos are demos with a guitar, just one dude with a Gibson Ripper

[Doddy]

5 hours ago, ubit said:

Session players wouldn't get much work if they stuck to sounding one way.

To a point, but I still think that there are recognisable qualities in their tones. To use possibly two of the busiest players for the last 30-40 years as an example- Nathan East and Will Lee still have their own sounds going on, whatever they doing. 

[pst62]

On 04/01/2022 at 15:59, SteveXFR said:

 

Marshall originally intended it as a bass amp but it was more commonly used as a guitar amp because it was closer to being a guitar amp. It was under powered as a bass amp and didn't sound like a bass amp.

Not sure about that! I had the JMP Mk2 Superbass head, and a Marshall 4x15 I used to cross channels on the amp, it was a right gutsy thunderous machine.

[steve-bbb]

Percy

[WinterMute]

54 minutes ago, Doddy said:

To a point, but I still think that there are recognisable qualities in their tones. To use possibly two of the busiest players for the last 30-40 years as an example- Nathan East and Will Lee still have their own sounds going on, whatever they doing. 

I think this is more to do with licks and phrasing, groove and invention than "sound", sure the best session guys get their work because they have a sound, but Carol Kaye played on hundreds of hits and you wouldn't necessarily know it was her.

 

Good session players do what the gig requires, unless they're Eddie Van Halen, in which case they do what they always do.

[Piers_Williamson]

Chuck Rainey on Steely Dan numbers (or at least you can tell when it's not Walter Becker (RIP))

[4000]

6 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

That was my issue. I was playing in a very loud thrash band at the time and to get the volume needed I was pushing the amp into distortion, and the only way to avoid farting was to cut the low end - instant Lemmy but not right for the band at the time. 

 

I often wonder if I was doing something wrong as I was playing through two custom Matamp 4x12s and still found the whole thing underpowered. Still, the guitar player I sold it to loved it.

I was using either an HH 2x15 or 2 x custom single 15 cabs depending on gig; I always used 15s at the time (and probably still would now if I could be bothered carrying them). Mine was competing with 2 modded full Marshall stacks and the loudest drummer I’ve ever played with and obviously I play very lightly, yet I could hear it fine. That one actually wasn’t that dirty tbh. Warm, yes, ‘rock’, yes, but not actually distorted, even at decent volume, although I never really got it much past half way.
 

The second one I owned was far more dirty. I hated it through the Marshall 4x12 I bought it with, it sounded pants. Through my early Trace sealed 4x10 though it was epic. 

[4000]

5 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

I looked up the Marshall Superbass on YouTube and nearly all the videos are demos with a guitar, just one dude with a Gibson Ripper

Chris Squire, Roger Glover (in Deep Purple) and Lemmy all used them and they’re 3 of my favourite sounding players. Obviously it’s not for everyone though. 

[Doddy]

3 hours ago, WinterMute said:

I think this is more to do with licks and phrasing, groove and invention than "sound", sure the best session guys get their work because they have a sound, but Carol Kaye played on hundreds of hits and you wouldn't necessarily know it was her.

 

Good session players do what the gig requires, unless they're Eddie Van Halen, in which case they do what they always do.

They're phrasing and feel is a big thing, but I still think they have a sound. Carol Kaye did play on hundreds of hits but Joe Osborn also did a lot with the Wrecking Crew, and they do sound different to each other. It might not be massively noticable, but it's there.