Was just listening to some old albums by The Nice, and Lee Jackson had one of the best bass sounds in rock. Nice clear tone, good articulation, and intelligent bass lines.
Too bad he was also one of rock's worst singers....
Other bass players with notably great tones:
- Chris Squire (of course)
- Randy Monaco (Mandrake Memorial)
My favorites are probably:
John Entwistle: particularly when he was playing those Alembic basses (which he apparently didn't like much, apart from the electronics), he had this great gargantuan tone.
Phil Lesh: another bassist who got a pretty cool tone from an Alembic (and before that an Alembic-ized Guild bass).
John Greaves:he had(has) a "sound".I could hear him under every minute of the music.A true "player",in every sense of the word.
"please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide
Marcus Miller for slap bass
Geddy Lee on the 1974 debut album and most of "Moving Pictures" for Rock
Brad Stephenson on Ethos "Open Up" album for Prog
Pino Palladino for fretless
Bernard Edwards of Chic, Alan Gorrie of Average White Band, and John Deacon of Queen for utilizing the fundamental with no harmonic structure in the string tone
Jannik Top and Bernard Paganotti
John Greaves (particularly on the Peel session "Beautiful as the Moon")
Ferdinand Richard (espec on Les Poumons Gonfles)
(some) Bill Laswell (with Painkiller in particular)
Hugh Hopper (on Volume Two, Rock Bottom, 1984, Hoppertunity Box and Delta Flora by Hughscore)
Andy Sneddon dons amazing sound on East of Eden's Mercator Projected
Alain Ballaud with Shub-Niggurath
Bent Sæther of Motorpsycho
Ruins (as duo with Yoshida and, here, Sasaki Hisashi; CHECK the part beginning at 2:38)
Some Ferdinand Richard with Etron Fou Leloublan:
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
Oh, man....don't get me started.
Okay, I'll start.
I dig players who have developed their own unique voice, in service to the music. Of course, Entwistle, and Phil Lesh, and Chris Squire, are all iconic.
But there are a ton of other players who had really cool, unique sounds, that helped define the music of the bands they were with. Andy Fraser with Free, that shit is integral to the sound of that band. It's low-fi, overdriven...but what a great, driving sound!
I could list a ton of great players with great tone.....but I am just gonna leave here with two words, for now: Chuck Rainey.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Seriously, though, Paul McCartney on "Here Comes the Sun."
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Paul McCartney for sure, on the list! All of Sgt. Peppers, man...that sound influenced so many....
And Jack Casady. "House on Pooneil Corners" was revolutionary in its day and still sounds terrifying now.Originally Posted by GuitarGeek
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
his sound (and his playing!) on Bless It's Pointed Little Head still kills me, every time.
I like Wetton with King Crimson best. Whether live or in the studio he was very raw.
One that probably won't get mentioned though is Dave Hope from Kansas. In the early days he had such a dry sound--reminds me of the bass version of the prototypical 70s snare sound. On "Song For America" he sounds like he's playing the left hand on a grand piano.
For me, the most gorgeous bass tone (and some of the most affecting bass playing) I've heard on record is still Jaco, on Joni Mitchell's album "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter." The first bass note on "Overture" is my single favorite bass guitar note ever recorded. The track that follows, "Cotton Avenue" is a tour de force of bass playing and groove, as well as tone. And the one that follows that, "Talk to Me," is genius "Jaco-playing-trombone-fills" bass. Those three tunes, I can listen to them over and over....and I often have.
I think this is the most beautiful I've ever heard an electric bass sound on a recording.
I think I'd have an easier time listing my least favorite bass sounds than my favorites. I don't like that "shit, my speaker cone ripped" that Larry Graham used to get.
Skip ahead to about 1:45 when Jaco enters...and keep listening. Listen to what he does with the groove around 3:35.
Percy Jones on anything he plays on. Brand X of course, but also the early Eno albums.
And if there were a god, I think it very unlikely that he would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence - Russell
Ray Shulman's the man. I've never listened for the bass on this track. Great stuff. (I'm usually hypnotized the by ethereal vocals interacting with the guitar and electric piano, which are always threatening to become groovy haha).
As a sidenote Monsieur Railroad, you've made some good sounding records yourself, sir.
I have always LOVED Ray's bass sound.
Good choices: Jaco, Phil, Ray, Percy, John, Paul.... I'll add Jeff Berlin who has not yet been mentioned.
all great--Jaco work on Joni albums sublime---also love Nick Beggs and Lee Pomeroy---believe it or not I like Rutherfords big fat simple bass lines
Rick Danko-King Harvest, Mystery Train or Revolution Blues for instance.
Funny, when I saw this thread title, Dave Hope was the first person to pop into my mind. This is odd in a way because his tone is largely meat and potatoes, generally nothing fancy at all. But man the tone he gets from that P bass with a pick. I just can't understand how he gets his bass to sound so good. Say what you will about Kansas' music, Hope's bass tone is just to die for.
I'm also with those who mention Ray Shulman. Similar to Hope, he gets such a beautiful, round, sustained and articulate sound from his P bass. Not a huge fan of his sound on the first four (though his playing is consistently fantastic), but staring with IaGH, hist tone is just sublime to my ears.
One other not mentioned is Tony Franklin with The Firm. Again, you may not dig the music, but his bass tone is superb. Dare I say better than Jaco's to my ears? Obviously Jaco is the superior player, but I've never been a huge fan of his tone. Likewise Stanley Clarke, though in his case it's the Alembic bass that's likely the culprit. I've never been a fan of those in anyone's hands; all highs and lows, no middle, too weedy and slinky. Maybe that's just me, I know those things were popular, but I never liked them.
Bill
agree
Having owned an Alembic in the 80s (see pic below - and please have a good laugh: its half the reason why I posted it), the problem with Alembics is pickup placement: (for those that dont know) the "voicings" of a bass come from where the pickup is located on the bass in relationship to the string placement. This is the basic principle behind basses with movable pickups like the Gibson Grabber or the Electra/Westone Rail. Types of pickups change the timbre of a voice but not the voice itself: this is why if you solo the mid-pickup on a Fender Jazz bass, its sounds like a thin (timbre) P- Bass. Most basses with Pickups in a mid/bridge configuration a la Fender Jazz - regardless of JJs, PJ, or soapbars are "Jazz"-ish. Its one of the reasons why Rics sound the way they do: its pickup placement is unique. With that said, the Alembic pickup placement had one right at the bridge and one right at the neck. For me, these were too far apart and made the Alembic very hollow-sounding and there was nothing I could do with the built-in Q-Filter to alleviate this. Its also the same reason why the good ol heavy Peavey T-40 can sound like an Alembic-ish
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