Let's see.. I already am a big Jack Casady/Yggdrasil/Alembic fan. I don't think anything can outdo his sound on 'Mexico' or Saucers' but, there are other examples, ca latter 60's:
1.
The James Gang's 'Yer Album' - especially the bass on their version of
'Bluebird'.
Massive. Talk about sustain....Sounds like a Fender Jazz w an EH Mole Booster (or something akin) on it, hits the front end of those amps. Good compression on those recordings helped, I'm sure.
2.
Grand Funk Railroad - esp. that live YouTube clip of 'Inside Lookin Out'..Mel Schacher's truly low end
speaker distortion, coming out of those
(Michigan built?) West Amps. More actual speaker distortion, I think, but, a really smooth, deep, fuzzlike sound. Cool slides he does to accentuate this.
3.
Felix Pappaliardi on some (later) '
Mountain Live' tracks. I was just mulling over this sound this very eve. There is a version of
'Long Red' live, where that Gibson EB Violin bass lays down a veritable blazing firestorm of thick, thick, low - end clipping. A rollercoastering "zzziiizzzzzzzzz****!!", if you need a word approximation. From what I've read in an archived Felix interview, the bass itself was just wired w large outcaps & a stock pickup, but, the amps - presumably Sunn Concerts (?) - were said to be hotwired to distort. Man, do they ever!
Not to sideline Felix' pretty clever, astute choice of 'odd' sorts of riffs to showcase this particular tone.
Do any of you know more about this sound, bass-wise or amp-wise? Or, the article where I read about it? I've been breadboarding 1-opamp, diode-to-ground clipper circuits to try to nail this one via electronics alone.
4.
West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (whew) They have a cut
"Carte Blanche" (the 2nd album, w gold-paint-sprayed personnel on the cover) where the fuzz guitar is very effectively low-tracked by an equally fuzzed out (as in FuzzFace, again?) supportive bassline. Sizzleblaze in tandem here.
5. Earlier on: There was a brief interview, like about 3 sentences long, w Jack Casady (in an odd 1967 teen fan mag) where it was said he had 'souped up' his Fender Jazz bass. He repied to the interviewer, ending w: "No, I won't discuss HOW I souped it up.." If you listen to 'Airplane Takes Off' ('Let me In' ,among other trax) & outtake cuts like "Go To Her" , you can definitely hear what sounds like a typical, LPB-type preamp boost hitting those Fender bass amps.
6. Oh, yeah - How could I forget the
Music Machine's "Talk, Talk",from late '66. A proto Punk-Psych anthem, 'tis.
Something thicked-out that bassline. My guess almost
has to be a FuzzFace, since that was about the only late 60's, commercially available pedal that had large enough input/output capacitors to accomplish this.
Paul McCartney was using some kind of Maestro Fuzz (or Colorsound?) on 'Think For Yourself', @ least that's what I've read on fuzztone site histories.
7. I agree about
Tim Bogert w Vanilla Fudge - his normal (untreated) sound was both formidable & cranked amp (read:clear) overdriven just the way it was. If you listen, you can hear this great drive on the outtake 'Where is My Mind" , esp. right at the songs' end. Or 'Some Velvet Morning' , off the 'Near the Beginning' album,yes- much heavier, fuzzier. I'd say that was more the result of cranked ampheads (or socked console gain?) than any fuzztone. He was using 3 bridged/cascaded Fender Bassman tops early on, once they started to gain notice as a live act. But he did try a (Mosrite Fuzzrite?) fuzz w some live gigs & tracks. It did have a 'thinning down' ,lowcut effect for a powerful, trill-running bassist such as Tim, but , I guess that any early experiments count here. They were definitely trying out different ways of OD'ing Tim's bass.
I always liked the pure low end, clearer drive stuff he typically used..it was a Fudge trademark...Cannonades, like a fireworks finale, in tandem w Carmine Appice's drums....Those fast trills could sound like a hurricane wind rippling as it was approaching over the ocean, dark, dramatic.... Not fuzz bass, but, I really think it's an iconic early bassdrive tone by & of itself.
8. For a really 'ratty' fuzztone bass, try the ending verse of Country Joe & the Fish' "Porpoise Mouth" , on the 1st Fish album. Ratty-sounding as hell, but, truly inkeeping w their 60's Berkeley, DIY-er, 'foolin' around w whatever's there in the studio' type of ethic. It's either menacing or comical (or both, knowing them)
Tonight's prevailing inner bass sound , tho (as I was going for pizza, lol) seems to be Felix's, on "Long Red' live. If anyone knows it's technology, pls post it.
cheers,
Thaxt
best bass fuzz/distortions history 
