Mega P bass tone

[JohnFitzgerald]

Not sure if it's Trevor Horn who wrote the part, but Mark O'Toole does a great job of playing it here, and that's a fantastic tone.
It doesn't hurt that it's given pride of place in the mix here.

 

One for the good headphones / speakers.
 

 

[Lozz196]

I watched a clip of FGTH doing a rehearsal of this and agree his playing very good, much more complex & interesting line than I’d thought.

[BassAdder60]

Great tone and use of a pick with a PBass 🎸🤟

[franzbassist]

I think I posted the very same clip a while back with the very same reaction. It really is very good.

[Russ]

Really good, driving line that grooves hard. All the FGTH stuff has great bass on it though, thanks to Trevor Horn. Here's a live version of The Buggles playing Two Tribes, with Horn playing bass: 

 

Best P-bass tone ever though? For me, that's Eric Avery on Deconstruction, the project he started with Dave Navarro in 1993 after Jane's Addiction broke up the first time around. 

 

[Lozz196]

That clip of Buggles doing Two Tribes is great, I knew Trevor Horn was a good bassist but imo he really shines on that version.

[Beedster]

On 19/07/2025 at 07:32, JohnFitzgerald said:

Not sure if it's Trevor Horn who wrote the part, but Mark O'Toole does a great job of playing it here, and that's a fantastic tone.
It doesn't hurt that it's given pride of place in the mix here.

 

One for the good headphones / speakers.
 

 

 

Sublime

 

12 minutes ago, Russ said:

Really good, driving line that grooves hard. All the FGTH stuff has great bass on it though, thanks to Trevor Horn. Here's a live version of The Buggles playing Two Tribes, with Horn playing bass: 

 

Best P-bass tone ever though? For me, that's Eric Avery on Deconstruction, the project he started with Dave Navarro in 1993 after Jane's Addiction broke up the first time around. 

 

Dull

[wintoid]

Two amazing performances, thanks chaps!

[Baloney Balderdash]

To me it sounds thin, farty and mid scooped. 

 

But I digress...

 

I suppose this is a somewhat thin tone too, but at the same time monterous, and very snappy and punchy, I love this P tone:

 

Edited 8 hours ago by Baloney Balderdash

[Russ]

1 hour ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

To me it sounds thin, farty and mid scooped. 

 

But I digress...

 

I suppose this is a somewhat thin tone too, but at the same time monterous, and very snappy and punchy, I love this P tone:

 

Not bad. It's very Stranglers. 

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Poor Old Steve Howe looks like he turned up for the wrong gig but they let him play anyway.

[Old Man Riva]

Mark O’Toole wrote the bass line for Two Tribes. There are demo versions online that show the song in its early stages (pre ZTT) with the bass line pretty much formed. I think there was also a BBC (John Peel?) session at one point too (again, pre ZTT).

 

I always really rated him, even more so after I saw them live at Brum NEC in, around ‘86/‘87, touring the Liverpool album. It certainly belied the myth that they couldn’t play… 

[Russ]

1 hour ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

Poor Old Steve Howe looks like he turned up for the wrong gig but they let him play anyway.

Steve Howe played on the original album - him and Trevor Horn are long-time collaborators, even before the short-lived Buggles/Yes "merger". 

 

He does look a bit out of place here, sitting down and playing dobro though!

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Yes (no pun intended),I read Trev's autobiography. The Yes/buggles connection came through them having the same management.

[Russ]

42 minutes ago, Old Man Riva said:

Mark O’Toole wrote the bass line for Two Tribes. There are demo versions online that show the song in its early stages (pre ZTT) with the bass line pretty much formed. I think there was also a BBC (John Peel?) session at one point too (again, pre ZTT).

 

I always really rated him, even more so after I saw them live at Brum NEC in, around ‘86/‘87, touring the Liverpool album. It certainly belied the myth that they couldn’t play… 

 

It's a brilliant bass part. It's a shame the album version of the track had synth bass instead of a proper bass guitar track. 

 

It also reminds me of how many people were influenced by the whole post-punk/goth thing - the P-with-a-pick midrangey tone, the melodicism, the high-register fills, etc - straight from the Hooky and Gallup school of bass. 

[Lozz196]

Definitely, in my first proper band much of the bass work was on the D & G, with a sly bit of chorus added in of course.

[Dood]

 

I definitely favoured those raspy mids and punch low end. I’d love to find this P bass again. Fullerton ‘62 neck on a 70’s body, dimarzio P pup and a pair of 15’s delivered some warm lows too. My secret weapon (not pictured) was a converted HiFi preamplifier with a “loudness” control on it which paired very well with the punchy mids for a BIG tone@

[Old Man Riva]

14 minutes ago, Russ said:

 

It's a brilliant bass part. It's a shame the album version of the track had synth bass instead of a proper bass guitar track. 

 

It also reminds me of how many people were influenced by the whole post-punk/goth thing - the P-with-a-pick midrangey tone, the melodicism, the high-register fills, etc - straight from the Hooky and Gallup school of bass. 

As well as the thundering bass line, the demo versions (or at least the stuff they did before getting signed) also feature exactly what you’re referencing. The droning open D, whilst playing a melody on the G - akin to Hooky, Gallup - is all in there…