Defining great bass tone... if possible?

[ken]

I've been thinking about this for awhile...

What exactly is a great bass tone? Is it a bass frequency heavy sound that shakes windows and beer glasses with low notes,
or a high frequency rich sound like the poppers and slappers use?

Are there any songs out there with acknowledged 'great' bass tones? I don't mean great playing, I mean great *sounds*. I have heard many players who had great talent but sounded really terrible.

Curious,
ken

[Chuck H]

There are a bunch of notable bass tones. As far as I know they're all really different. Randy Hobbs has a great slightly overdriven tone. Who can deny Pino Palladino's tone on Paul Young's Every Time You Go Away? But I'm not going into a big list. But I don't think it's possible to define good bass tone. Not nearly so much as you can guitar tone for different genre.

[Justin Thomas]

Hey Ken,

This could be an adventure... I think it's finding a mix of both. That said, the tones that made me want to play bass were "Red Barchetta" (Rush), the second disc of "Different Stages," (also Rush), and anything from "Live at Leeds" (The Who). Present, immediately identifiable, harmonically rich yet solid and clear, and wouldn't sound right any other way. And not trying to "sit in the mix" like a "good little bass player." And playing bass is just as much about "playing the amp" as guitar-playing.

I guess great bass tone in one setting is really bad bass tone in another...

Justin

[g1]

Pretty much personal opinion, like "great flavour of ice-cream". Even guitar tones are debateable, I don't like some guitar tones that are considered "great" by some people, and others would feel the same about tones I think are great. Brian Jones comes to mind off the top of my head (or should I say rips off my head ), but maybe he thought that was great tone?
As far as Bass goes, if I hear a song on an old car AM radio with a single speaker and can clearly make out the bass line, I consider that good bass tone. How many modern songs could you say that about? Would you even hear the bass line without subwoofers?

[Steve Conner]

Depends what band you're in and what style of music. A bass tone that was perfect for a power trio would get you kicked out of an 11-piece big band.

My favourites are Noel Redding, Stanley Clarke and whoever played bass for Bob Marley. (Robbie Shakespeare?) Three quite different tones: an overdriven racket that fills the rhythm guitar slot as well as bass, a hi-fi tone that shoves Clarke's virtuosity right in your face, and a kind of muffled throb with tone turned down to 0 and 10-year-old strings. Great in three different ways.

[David Schwab]

As a bassist, I like to hear a wide range of frequencies, without a harsh upper midrange. Probably because I started a while ago when basses came with flats, I'm always looking for a crisp top end. I can then get just about any tone, from Motown to Stanley Clarke-ish modern tones. I like the neck pickup to be deep, but not muddy, and the bridge pickup to not sound thin on its own.

But yeah, there are a lot of great tones.

[David Schwab]

My favourites are Noel Redding, Stanley Clarke and whoever played bass for Bob Marley. (Robbie Shakespeare?)

Aston "Family Man" Barrett was the bassist in the Wailers. All those reggae guys are great. I was never all that crazy about Redding. He never did anything that stood out to me. Hendrix actually played a lot of the cool bass parts on Electric Ladyland (including the bass solo on 1983). He also played bass on All Along the Watchtower. I was a huge Stanley Clarke fan back in the day. I also like Ray Shulman from Gentle Giant and Chris Squire from Yes. And of course McCartney. Carol Kaye too.

[LtKojak]

Great bass tone (and playing also) for me is the following:

* Louis Johnson in Quincy Jones "The Dude"
* Marcus Miller in Miles Davis "Tutu"
* Brian Bromberg in any record.
* Larry Graham with Graham Central Station
* Francis Rocco Prestia with Tower of Power

YMMV.

[Chuck H]

See?!?

I think since basses are played clean, or virtually, 95% of the time that there is more room for nuance and frequency range. So, lots of variation. I guess the hard part then could be making a great bass amp!?! With such a wide range of preferences and styles making a bass amp that does it all would be impossible. Guitar players commonly own a couple of different amps and guitars. IMHE bassists often only own one of each.

[David Schwab]

I guess the hard part then could be making a great bass amp!?!

That's the thing, and even then, it's divided on what's a good bass amp. You have one school where they want a hi-fi rig that just reproduces the tone of the bass, but louder. Then you have the people that want the amp to color the tone. Lately there's a lot of players that use overdrive and distortion, so they tend to favor tube amps like the SVT. I loathe SVTs! They are so colored that I can't hear my bass. But I like tube amps too. I have a big Mesa 400+ which sounds great, and is very hi-fi. But it weighs a ton (or about 45 lbs). I just got a Hartke LH-500, which has a class A tube preamp (running at high voltage, not one of these starved plate things) and a very clean MOSFET power amp. So it's a nice hybrid design. It uses a classic Fender style tone stack. It's warm and fat and still hi-fi.

Another thing with bass players is the variety of bass strings available. Some use bright round wounds, and some use flats. between those types you have many different shades of tone from one brand to another. Guitar strings all sound very similar from brand to brand.

[ken]

Wow.

I'm going to have to spend some quality time with my headphones for sure.

ken

[Chuck H]

Another thing with bass players is the variety of bass strings available. Some use bright round wounds, and some use flats. between those types you have many different shades of tone from one brand to another. Guitar strings all sound very similar from brand to brand.

Absolutely +1

Lot's of options for strings, amps, acoustic qualities, etc. And they're all used and loved by this guy or that guy. Guitar tone seems to have evolved with horse blinders on by comparison. WRT guitar maybe 80% of players sound similar, or want to. not so much with bass players it seems. Tough demographic to sell to also I'd guess.

[woodyc]

There are a lot of bass sounds I like, but one that is kind of memorable for me is... Kim Deal picking Gigantic with a Pbass and a SVT.

[Steve Conner]

If bass tone is so highly evolved, how come it's always buried in the mix by too-loud guitars? 8)

I submit for your consideration: Tim Commerford? of Rage Against The Machine. Maybe not the greatest band, but he supposedly built his own amps. Sting and Flea, superstar bassists who must be doing something right.

I take the point on Noel Redding. Probably the bass riffs I liked were all played by Hendrix.

6 degrees of: My bass once got borrowed by an engineer who had worked with Kim Deal. He thought it sounded great.

[Chuck H]

Maybe I was saying that it HASN'T evolved. I can't be sure... Of course it has. It just hasn't suffered the same narrow definitions that guitar tone enjoys. Argue this point if you like, but it's probably because guitar tone (in pop and rock) is generally clipped. Bass is rarely clipped enough to lose so much nuance. So, WRT guitar, the tone is more clipped or less clipped and then EQ. With bass there is more acoustic nuance. It doesn't help that solid body basses aren't the most acoustically capable instruments (turn down the burner). Then there's the mix, as noted. Since guitar players seem to want to occupy all the space anymore it must be a creative effort for bassists to find a place to be.

Just thinking out loud.