For me it would have to be Duff Mckagen of Guns N Roses, whenever I hear The Intro to "rocket queen" or "Sweet Child O' Mine" I realise how awesome it is, other bassists have great tones too but for me Duffs remains one of the best.:hyper: :bassist:

Will Lee- to me, the ultimate "generic" Jazz Bass tone

It's hard to pick one favorite tone, but John Paul Jones on Led Zeppelin II is certainly one of my favorite.

Other than this, Alain Caron's fretless tone and Janek's tone on his Fodera are also amazing.

Dave Elefson and Frank Bello. Love that heavy mid tone.

John Entwistle had the ultimate tone IMO.

Pino Palladino.

Enough said.

Geddy, Randy Coven and Rocco.

cough...jaco...cough...


...fretless and fingers...all you need.

Peter Hook, Timmy C, Justin Chancellor...

And don't forget Flea!

There are too many to list!

flea, timmy C, jaco, geddy lee.

Steve Harris on any album.NOTB and POM is the best though(IMO)

Chris Squire seems to have that killer tone for me right now. Ask me in a week and it will probably be Claypool, and after that probably Jamerson, after that...

Seems to change for me.

My vote is for Marcus Miller. Alot of other great ones too, but I just love that tone.

Jaco, Geddy, Jack Casady


G

Ben Shepherd always has the coolest bass tones.

Charles Mingus+PCP=Ben Shepherd

There's lots to choose from, but my favorites are Marcus Miller, Victor Bailey, Jimmy Haslip, Michael Manring and Anthony Jackson.

Pino Palladino.

Enough said.

+1!

Also John Taylor, Chris Squire, and Geddy.

So many tones, so little time...

For me it would have to be Duff Mckagen of Guns N Roses, whenever I hear The Intro to "rocket queen" or "Sweet Child O' Mine" I realise how awesome it is, other bassists have great tones too but for me Duffs remains one of the best.

I second you on that one bud. He has some seriously great tone!

Geddy does have some excellent tone, as well as chris squire. I must admit though, my favorite tones are that of Roger, bassist of less than jake from thier newest album. Very grindy and agressive, but not over the top; Steve Harris because it's just so driving and it sits right in the mix perfectly; Justin Chancellors because it just hits that tonal sweet spot for me; and #2 from Anti-Flag because it combines many of the tones I liked together: A picked Jazz 4 string, it's agressive but almost "flat" sounding, and Ampeg. :D

Mmm. Tone. :bassist:

Steve Harris, John Entwistle, Frank Bello, Dave Ellefson, Duff McKagen, Dolf Datsun, and the list continues on

:cool:
Some of my favorites.

1-John Paul Jones-Led Zep II tone.
2-Jack Bruce- Cream tone.
3-Jaco- Back pickup tone.
4-Pino- P-bass with flats tone.
5-Mick Karn- fretless tone.
6-Mark King slap tone.
7-Will Lee- modern jazz tone.
8-Anthony Jackson 6-string tone.
9-Tim C- overdrive tone.

Tony Levin needs to be mentioned here too...

I love Oteil's tone, especially lately. Fodera bass through Epifani rig = pure bliss. For proof that it really is 90% fingers though, his older Modulus through Ampeg sound isn't THAT much different, and those are two completely different setups.

Paul D'amour

id have to agree with some of the other fellows

duffs tone kicks. although im not a pick player, hearing his tone on rocket queen, sweet child, paradise, etc, makes me want to give it a try one day

also i agree with john paul jones, awsome bass tone on led zep 2, lemon song kicks man. everytime i hear that song im like wow. just amazing.

geddy lee for sure too, what would talkbass be like if there was no geddy lee or rush for that matter. hes got killer j bass tone, and his fingerstyle speed is killer

ill also like to add geezer butler too, killer rock bass player. playing his p bass's through those blown speakers created his killer bass tone in black sabbath.

May not be the best, but he hasn't been mentioned yet.

Tony Kinal of No Doubt. He put that band over the top IMO. Tragic Kingdom has more catchy bass hooks on that one album than some guys will have their entire careers.

Also, agree with earlier posts...Steve Harris, Jaco, Jamerson, Stuart Zender (hasn't been mentioned yet either), Justin Chancellor, Tim C, whoever was playing bass for Smashing Pumpkins (OK, we all know it was Billy Corgan), Marcus Miller and, most of all, Geddy Lee.

Doug Pinnick

Norm Stockton (MTD 535 is pure tone in his hands), Will Lee (You need to hear his track on a cover of a Miles tune "all blues" from The New York Voices mid-early 90's album "Whats Inside- Killer), Victor, Jaco, Geddy, Kim Stone (any and all Rippingtons that he played on)

One of my all time faves and often overlooked is Derek Forbes, with Simple Minds until the mid eighties. He went on to do a brief thing with Propaganda with some great tones there also.

Doug Pinnick

especially on the dogman album, specifically the tune "pretend."

[QUOTE=Twistad;4693792]It's hard to pick one favorite tone, but John Paul Jones on Led Zeppelin II is certainly one of my favorite.

Yeah!!!!!!
That was his favorite period for me--he was channeling Jamerson a bit for sure. But he always found a great tone for the song. What about his awesome clanking tone on "Black Dog"?

Another guy I'd put in the same category of always nailing a killer tone would be John Deacon.

Flea
Tim C.
Matt Freeman
Paul Turner*
Andy Hess*
Pino*

*- I wish I could make a P-bass to sound that good !

John Entwistle and Justin Chancellor.

Trevor Dunn on the First Mr. Bungle album.

Mostly "Dead Goon" tone.

So good!

Chris Wood from Medeski, Martin, and Wood always has some interesting tones.

His overdriven tone is fat and funky, I love it.

Squire, Levin & G. Lee.

Doug Pinnick

+Infinity

Rex Brown

best?

his name is VICTA

Another vote for Pinnick. Wanna know where a lot of that tone comes from? His high-end goes through an old Traynor Bassmaster. Off to eBay, I got me two. Ridiculous amp, btw.

cough...jaco...cough...


...fretless and fingers...all you need.



I think Jaco used an amp and cables as well... either that or he played REALLY hard.

Scott Palmer (RIP) from John Browns Body and the bass player from Matisyahu has great tone!..I think Bobby Vega has a killler tone too!

+1 on Chris Wood from Medeski Martin and Wood

Not only have I been a fan for years, I got to see him play on monday.... live at a small club.... front row, leaning against the stage the whole show. MIND blowing.

Richard Bona and Jaco for sure

Pino Palladino.

Enough said.

++++++++++++++1

Ryan Martinie
Tom Kennedy
Geezer Butler
Marcus Miller
Jaco Pastorius

Yep, think thats about it.

For me it would have to be Duff Mckagen of Guns N Roses, whenever I hear The Intro to "rocket queen" or "Sweet Child O' Mine" I realise how awesome it is, other bassists have great tones too but for me Duffs remains one of the best.:hyper: :bassist:

true! true! to me it depends on what style your trying to play, we have to be versitile bros, but have our sound 2
check out kieth horne-super bad tone!!!

Nathan East :):):)
Oh.. and Marcus ;)

Steve Harris
David Ellefson
Duff McKagan
Paul D'Amour
Les Claypool
John Entwistle
Flea

a whole bunch really... and of all types, slap, picked or finger style...

Victor Wooten
Anthony Jackson
Kim Stone Fretless tone.
Who recorded Nikita by Elthon John? I think it was Pino, does anybody knows?
Great tone!

Victor Damiani from CAKE

and of course Flea

Scott Palmer (RIP) from John Browns Body and the bass player from Matisyahu has great tone!..I think Bobby Vega has a killler tone too!


yes! Josh Werner with Matisyahu has a killer tone, also Bill Laswell, Hub, Robbie Shakespeare(of course), Greg Reeves (Cordovan, James Hardway), and Jah Wobble (PIL, etc.). . .(can you tell I like dem fat dubwise tones? . . . .;)

um...what about jamerson and meshell....

oh and pino obviously :)

Paul and Justin....

One of my favourite tones is the one John Deacon had on Queen's The Game album - round, deep and growling at the bottom end, smooth and delicate at the top - wonderful.

Robert Trujillo on the Plague That Makes Your Booty Move and +1 on Trevor Dunn on the first Bungle with Warner Bros..
Also Victa on Live at Bass Day (I'm not sure the year but it's like his biggest video), and Michael Anthony's early ninety's synth bass live sounds.

Jonas Hellborg, Geddy Lee (especially when he uses Wal basses), Stuart Hamm, Mark King, Victor Wooten and Stanley Clarke always have amazing tones.

ive got to say that McCartney has the best tone in my opinion. the bass for drive my car sounds amazing and throught only mama knows from his new album memory almost full it sounds excellent. cant find thetab though.

Another vote for Pinnick. Wanna know where a lot of that tone comes from? His high-end goes through an old Traynor Bassmaster. Off to eBay, I got me two. Ridiculous amp, btw.

A few years ago, he ditched the Traynors for a Line 6 guitar pod and said the sound was scary similar to his.

My current favorite sound is Paul Jackson's Precision on Headhunters. And I give +1 to Wood at MMW. Incredible vintage tones and versatility.

Peter Dezsenyi

Jaco
Jason Newsted on the Black album
Adam Clayton (live tone)
Pino's tone on all of Paul Young's stuff amazes me!
I love the P-bass tone on Scott Matthew's album too!

Paul S. Denman... and Tony Franklin... and Jamerson... and Dee Murray... and... the list goes on.

Denman, if I had to just pick one.

JPJ, McCartney, and early Geddy (on recordings) are the tones that got my attention. I also really love that black guy in the Doobie Brother's pick tone. He can play finger style nuances with a pick.

Paul S. Denman... and Tony Franklin... and Jamerson... and Dee Murray... and... the list goes on.

Denman, if I had to just pick one.

Dee Murray was Elton John's bassist (?). I was just noticing a few days ago how good this guy is but his tone was just a touch too deep and boomy for my taste....better than weak and wimpy though.

A few of my favorites:

- Mark King, who defines the modern, sparkly, zippy funk tone.

- Gary Willis, who gets the perfect combination of growl and mwah in his fretless tone.

- Marcus, who singluarly defines the fretted Jazz Bass tone

- Jaco, who could be recognized with the first note he played

- Les Claypool, who is really weird but should get some credit for doing it the way nobody else does

- Tony Levin, who manages to fit some of the slickest bass tones ever into mainstream music

There are too many to list!

Definitely! But I'm going to throw Juan Nelson (Ben Harper) into the mix. KILLER tone (especially on the 'Fight For Your Mind' album)!

Trevor Dunn on the First Mr. Bungle album.

Mostly "Dead Goon" tone.

So good!

Oh yeah, I definitely agree with you there.

Rob Deleo

I love Duff's tone. I was a huge GNR fan when I was a youngster and not even knowing what a bass was back then, I thought it was pretty cool. I love his tone on the intro to "you could be mine"

Lateralus Justin Chancellor (The Patient)
Evil Empire Timmy C

Hah! When I think about it, I have one of my fav bass tones on this song "Arisen" http://www.myspace.com/leftbrainmusic

Ben Shepherd always has the coolest bass tones.

Charles Mingus+PCP=Ben Shepherd

Good call. Been playing Badmotorfinger to death lately, been on a bit of a retro kick as of late.

well, now . . . although I DO know that the sound of the bass, both live and recorded, originally is produced by a combination of factors . . . the player, the bass, the type of strings, the amp., etc., the final sound heard by the audience/listener has MUCH more to do with the audio engineer's skills (or failings) than anything else . . . IMNSVHO.

I'll give my top 5:

Dug Pinnick (King's X)
Justin Chancellor (Tool)
Mike Starr (Alice in Chains)
Tony Franklin (the Firm, Blue Murder)
Les Claypool (Primus)

Marcus and Geddy

Definitely! But I'm going to throw Juan Nelson (Ben Harper) into the mix. KILLER tone (especially on the 'Fight For Your Mind' album)!
Man I heard the broadcast of them live in Philly killer player great tone.

Bob Weston from Shellac, Nick Pie from Shotmaker and David WM Sims from The Jesus Lizard.

I like the raw and viscious sounds of LEMMY KILMISTER:bassist:

Ooh!

I love Richard Bona's passive Fodera sound. Perfect blend of Fodera modern/passive J, imo. Get his Munia album to see what I'm talking about.

Rocco Prestia is another with super unique and punchy as hell tone.

Paul Taylor gets great J and P tones.

It all depends on context (can't imagine Jaco would work in Motorhead or Lemmy in Weather Report, although I'd be interested to hear both :D), but some of my favourite tones are:

Chris Squire, John Entwistle (particularly his Alembic tone - incredible), Stanley Clarke, Lemmy (by far the most penetrating bass sound I've ever heard live), Glenn Hughes (especially Made In Europe), Roger Glover's Ric tone, Mike Rutherford's Ric tone (although like the Shergolds too), Mark King on his Alembics and Jaydees (not so much his Status tone), Stuart Zender in Jamiroquai, Matt Garrison, Jean Jacques Burnel, Leigh Gorman of Bow Wow Wow, Janek Gwizdala, JPJ (Led Zep 2), Jah Wobble, Gary Thain in Uriah Heep, John Thompson on his appearance with Soul 2 Soul on Jools Holland (awesome tone from that Sei 6!!!), Rutger Gunnarson in Abba, John Deacon, Paul McCartney, Jimmy Johnson, Flea on BSSM, Aston "Family Man" Barrett, Geezer Butler, John McVie (partic. on Rumours and Tusk)....I'm sure there are loads of others.....

......including the video of Katsuji Morioka playing the green Sequel 6 on the Jerzy Drozd site. That's one of the most amazing sounds I've ever heard.

my favorite tones are Mckagan, Flea, and Entwistle

Any bassist can lay down a killer sounding bass tone but ultimatley it is in the hands of the engineer/producer to lay it in the mix properly. Albums and bands I gravitate towards tend to have bass friendly production. Conversely, I will be turned off by bands that have the bass guitar buried in a mash of chunky guitars and thundering drums. A perfect example of this would be Cliff Burton era Metallica.

That being said, here are some of my favorite bass tone guys:

Chris Squire
Jack Bruce
Geddy Lee
Steve Harris

just to name a few

Geezer!

I'll narrow it down to two bassists and one bass respectively. Jean Baudin's Joust, the chamber body and extra length strings give him such a woody clean tone that it just amazes me everytime i hear Vanishing. Micheal Manring and his exotic topped hyperbass (i think it's koa, but im not sure) that bass brings out every subtle nuance of his playing and gives him a sound that's unlike anyone elses.

Steve Swallow, Anthony Jackson,Tony Levin

More votes for Steve Swallow and Tony Levin. Also Graeme Maybe (old Joe Jackson-with a Spector and a pick-best "cutting through" IMO) and Mike Visceglia (Suzanne Vega).

Sir Paul
Graham Maby
James Jamerson
Rick Danko
Joey Spaminato

jaco, marcus miller, rocco, geddy. any bass player whose tone serves the song.

Matt Garrison gets my vote

Nick Seymour of Crowded House

Flea on the title track of By The Way. So damn aggressive sounding.

Victor Bailey
Jeremie Coke (from Electro-deluxe)
Etienne M'bappé

Marcus Miller, Andrew Gouche, and Damien Erskine get my vote right now.

Johnny Lee Middleton of Savatage.



And of course Peter Tork:D

Rob Deleo

+1, there are too many , but i have some tone in my head

that´s full of poison and grit, and i can´t get it out, it

belongs to the guy in SKunk Anansie, my GOD!!!:eek:

flea
victor wooten
duff mckagen
geddy lee
les claypool

fleas is my favorite, ive almost got it with my svt3pro, stingray and mesa cabs, i am so close

Johnny Lee Middleton of Savatage.


Whoa! Savatage! Blast from the past. All I remember is my good friend walking out of the show inexplicably covered in glitter. Ah the memories.

Never much cared for his tone though. Better than the average metal bassist back then I suppose

jaco
flea on BSSM
Paul Jackson
Aston 'Familyman' Barrett
Justin Chancellor
Baghiti Khumalo on Graceland
Trevor Dunn
to name a few...

This may get me laughed off the planet, but Yanni has this bass player that sounds pretty sweet.

Bernie Edwards from Chic.

1) jaco... by a longshot
2) chris squire (stereo ric 4001 :D)
3) flea
4) Marcus Miller
5) JPJ

Bruce Foxton (the Jam) circa 'Going Underground'/'The Eton Rifles'.

Mike Mills (R.E.M.) on the album 'Document'.

Mani - Stone Roses
Greg Ridley - Humble Pie

Marcus Miller
Ryan Martinie

Pino, Jaco, John Entwistle, Lee Sklar, Stanley Clark - All quite different but all excellent IMO

...anyone playing a Fodera!

Richard Bona
Tom Kennedy (Dave Weckl band)
Tony Grey (Hiromi's Soncibloom)

some of my favs lately.

Geddy's tone on Rush's Signals album is one of the greater tones I've heard. It's the perfect mix, IMO of growl, punch and tight low end.

Is it just me, or is this thread a broken record? I'm reading the same 5 or 6 names in nearly all of the posts on every page. I mean, these guys (Geddy, Marcus, etc) obviously do get great tone, but I'm here to do what I do and break the repitition:

-Eric Judy gets a fantastic tone out of his P-Bass. He's got a very round, yet still aggressive pick tone that is always very present in the mix.

-Jared Reynolds who plays for Ben Folds is in a similar boat to Eric, very round yet aggressive pick tone, but his is slightly more old school with his Flat-Wound strings. He makes that Big Muff sing, too.

-Mark Stoermer from the Killers has a near perfect tone IMO. Say what you want about the band, but I love his gritty pick tone.

-Garrett Tienery gets such an awesomely aggressive tone with Brand New on Deja Entendu. It mellowed out for 'The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me,' its still a very awesome, hollow, but not quite scooped P-Bass tone.

-As fretless tones go, I prefer Marc Friedman's tone from the Slip, especially on the newest album, Eisenhower. He gets a very nice, round fretted tone too, but you can't beat the tone on 'Even Rats' or 'Children Of December' for me.

There's a ton more, but these cover my favorite tones. And as much as I do agree that most of the bassist named have awesome tones, all very different, I named these because they are my favorites, not because I just wanted to name new names.

Tom Kennedy-Dave Weckl Band-Fodera basses+Ampeg amps

Adam Nitti-Solo Cd's-Warrior basses+SWR amps

Jimmy Johnson-Alan Holdsworth-Alembic basses

My 3 favorites

I didn't read the thread, but has anyone mentioned Nathan East?

Any and all of Stefan Lessard's.

Any and all of Alex Kuchinich(i murdered that)/Dirk Lance's. :)

Phil Michell has a great bass tone with uk band Dr Feelgood and also Bruce Foxton from the Jam, I love a good deep end and twang with a pick.

Fusion - Richard Bona (tasteful effects)
Gospel - Fred Hammond and Reggie Young (both Smith basses)

JPJ, McCartney, and early Geddy (on recordings) are the tones that got my attention. I also really love that black guy in the Doobie Brother's pick tone. He can play finger style nuances with a pick.

His name is Cornelious Bumpus played w the Doobies

So many. Very tough question.

For strictly just tone:

Entwhistle

Rocco Prestia

Jimmy Johnson


JKT :cool:

His name is Cornelious Bumpus played w the Doobies

Don't you mean Tiran Porter? I thought Corny played keys and sax.

JKT

Don't you mean Tiran Porter? I thought Corny played keys and sax.

JKT

Man, you are absolutely correct. My 45 year old memory might be starting to slip.:hmm:

Geezer Butler

Mike Watt when he's manning a tbird

Ryan Martinie on the L.D. 50 album, Justin Chancellor anywhere, and Domenico Citriniti.


OOOOH OH oh and then there's Tony Levin...

I agree with a bunch of posts but I will mention a few that I also really like:

Paul Simonon - The Clash
Tony Butler - Big Country
Roger Waters
Derek Forbes - Simple Minds
Mike Mesaros - The Smithereens
Andy Rourke - The Smiths
Graham Baby - Joe Jackson
Alfie Agius - The Fixx

my $0.02

Man, you are absolutely correct. My 45 year old memory might be starting to slip.:hmm:

Hate to tell ya it don't get any better :D

the bassist from a billion ernies has a sick tone on their last cd
the bassist from thursday, and of course dan brigs of btbam

ill add a vote for justin chancellor and doug pinnick and also add paul d'amour (spl?)

John Entwistle
Jack Bruse
Billy Sheehan
Peter Hook
Stanley Clarke
Hough Hopper

dirk lance and justin chancellor:hyper:

Hm, one of my favourite tones must be Sean Malone's.

It just sounds really laid back but always there to me.
Hummy fretless! heh :D

ben kenney
tim c
chris squire

Dan Briggs from Between The Buried And Me


Spector Bass(tuned down a fourth) into a Sunn 300t and Ampeg 810

The bass player that plays with the white stripes. :)

nathan east, geezer butler

jaco, duff, marcus miller :)

Joe Keller from the Ergs!

I guess I'd describe his sound and zippy and bubbly or something. It goes great with his playing and with the band.

Marco Coti Zelati of Lacuna Coil on the "Karmacode" album. Also Geddy Lee, Steve Harris, and Cliff Burton.;)

Victor Wooten on Left of Cool. More specifically, "Big Country". The the tone and Mwaaaahhh!!!! on the solo. *eargasm* 'Tis just amazing.

Tim Commerford.

GEDDY EFFING LEE

if you don't like his live tone (most notably on RushInRio) then go die.

:spit:

Marcus Miller Timmy C and Flea

The bass player that plays with the white stripes. :)

is that a joke? cause i hear they have no bassist, and that either jack white does the bass or uses an effect on his guitar or a baritone guitar or something.

Fat Mike from NOFX, The guy from Anti-Flag, and Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth

i cant belive that noone has mentioned steve bailey. great tone. as for my other favorites, jaco, wooten, gary willis, stanley clarke, chuck rainey. the list goes on

Paul McCartney
Bruce Thomas
Gabriel Nelson

and *aahem* Steve Harris of course

IMO Marcus Miller has a creamy tone to kill (not die) for

is that a joke? cause i hear they have no bassist, and that either jack white does the bass or uses an effect on his guitar or a baritone guitar or something.

Yes, it is a joke. :)

Fat Mike from NOFX, The guy from Anti-Flag, and Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth

too bad they're all terrible. i really don't even consider them bassists. their tone is horrible. you may want to consider listening to something like Bela Fleck & The Flecktones or Chick Corea if you want to hear some good bass.

too bad they're all terrible. i really don't even consider them bassists. their tone is horrible. you may want to consider listening to something like Bela Fleck & The Flecktones or Chick Corea if you want to hear some good bass.

What makes you think he would like that?

you don't have to like it, but it's something every aspiring bassist should listen to.

Not necessarily.

Chris Squire seems to have that killer tone for me right now. Ask me in a week and it will probably be Claypool, and after that probably Jamerson, after that...

Seems to change for me.

I also have always loved Squire's tone. Close to the edge is what made me want to be a bass player.

Percy Jones in the Wal years

Norwood fisher from fishbone gets the besst warwick tone ive ever heard

For me it would have to be Duff Mckagen of Guns N Roses, whenever I hear The Intro to "rocket queen" or "Sweet Child O' Mine" I realise how awesome it is, other bassists have great tones too but for me Duffs remains one of the best.:hyper: :bassist:

i love duff

but here's 3 things some people might not know:

1. His live tone is not nearly as good; on albums its heavily altered in the studio
2. He uses a pick with a heavy amount of chorus sometimes and occasionally distortion.
3. And he bi-amps his sound by playing out of a GK head, Marshall Guitar head, and 2 GK cabs.

There's lots to choose from, but my favorites are Marcus Miller, Victor Bailey, Jimmy Haslip, Michael Manring and Anthony Jackson.

Amen to that.. I gotta put Paul Jackson Jr in there too.. I been going headhunters crazy for the past 3 weeks...