Bassists - Great Tone

[Delayman]

A little bit tangential, but I played for a while in a U2 tribute, and learning the songs it was surprising how often their bass mix/tone is pretty average. A few standouts like Bullet the Blue Sky, and With or Without You etc, but quite often struggled to pick out lines in other U2 songs. Not to mention the "why are you playing that note" moments. Still love U2 though.

[jeremyb]

A little bit tangential, but I played for a while in a U2 tribute, and learning the songs it was surprising how often their bass mix/tone is pretty average. A few standouts like Bullet the Blue Sky, and With or Without You etc, but quite often struggled to pick out lines in other U2 songs. Not to mention the "why are you playing that note" moments. Still love U2 though.

Some bass players are at their best when they can't be heard

[Vince]

Andy Fraser in Free. That EB tone! So rich and powerful. Solid sound, graceful player.

[JoeBlow]

Geddy Lee from Rush, with the 4001. Brilliant player, great sound. Chris Squire from Yes, of whom Lee was greatly inspired by.

Geezer from Sabbath, Harris from Maiden (P bass for both).

Also Dan Roberts from Crash Test Dummies. God Shuffled His Feet has beautiful lines, but I can't any info on his equipment.

Al Cisneros from Sleep and Om. I love the Rickenbacker sound. Can't leave out Lemmy either.

[Delayman]

Also Dan Roberts from Crash Test Dummies. God Shuffled His Feet has beautiful lines, but I can't any info on his equipment.

On this clip of Mmmm you can see his bass at about 2:19 - Warwick? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkxlAIcq54E
Look like really fat strings, but that might be just an illusion with poor quality clip.

[JoeBlow]

Also Dan Roberts from Crash Test Dummies. God Shuffled His Feet has beautiful lines, but I can't any info on his equipment.

On this clip of Mmmm you can see his bass at about 2:19 - Warwick? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkxlAIcq54E
Look like really fat strings, but that might be just an illusion with poor quality clip.

Definitely looks like a Warwick aye.

I did some more searching today and saw a pic of him playing through a Gallien-Krueger 800RB 300/100-Watt Bi-Amp head.

[blackstratblues]

Allen Woody - Gov't Mule and Allman Brothers Band. His intro to Don't Step on the Grass, Sam from the Live at Roseland cd is fabulous.

Apparently his bass feed on the multitrack was distorted and unusable so they used the bass vocal mic which was picking up the amp and just compressed that heavily. Which is why the backing vocals sound so saturated.

[blackstratblues]

No mention of Jaco yet? The quintessential vocal bass tone.

John Deacon from Queen, check out The Millionaire Waltz & Bicycle Race for starters.

McCartney on Rain & Dear Prudence

Dug Pinnick on Dogman

Tom Scholz on Boston’s Foreplay/Long Time

[WellyBlues]

Allen Woody - Gov't Mule and Allman Brothers Band. His intro to Don't Step on the Grass, Sam from the Live at Roseland cd is fabulous.

Apparently his bass feed on the multitrack was distorted and unusable so they used the bass vocal mic which was picking up the amp and just compressed that heavily. Which is why the backing vocals sound so saturated.

Interesting.

Maybe it's not the tone so much as that initial hook line. There is another thread for that i think.

[Hamsta]

Pino fucking Palladino.

PREACH!

[Hamsta]

Also Dan Roberts from Crash Test Dummies. God Shuffled His Feet has beautiful lines, but I can't any info on his equipment.

On this clip of Mmmm you can see his bass at about 2:19 - Warwick? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkxlAIcq54E
Look like really fat strings, but that might be just an illusion with poor quality clip.

Definitely looks like a Warwick aye.

Definitely a Warwick - headstock & 2-piece bridge give it away.
Probably a Streamer LX - bolt-on neck & reverse configuration P-pickup.

[foal30]

Paul Chambers
George Murray
Paul Webb

[foal30]

On this clip of Mmmm you can see his bass at about 2:19 - Warwick? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkxlAIcq54E
Look like really fat strings, but that might be just an illusion with poor quality clip.

Definitely looks like a Warwick aye.

Definitely a Warwick - headstock & 2-piece bridge give it away.
Probably a Streamer LX - bolt-on neck & reverse configuration P-pickup.

The Prince live set “The Undertaker “ has Sonny Thompson on a Warwick Bass in a blues trio setting. Worth a look for the Warwick fans... I can’t remember if it’s a Corvette or a Dolphin.

[Kev77]

Anything Tony Garnier, upright, fretless or fretted. So tasteful

[Litterick]

Ron Carter