A possible reason that it's hard to copy Entwistle's tone.

[Baryonyx]

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

I cast thee out!

Given that I've hated everything else I've heard by The Who, I doubt I'd like it anyway...

[Mark Latimour]

Originally Posted by Chris2112

Given that I've hated everything else I've heard by The Who, I doubt I'd like it anyway...

Get out

[sir juice]

My dad was at that gig

[nysbob]

Originally Posted by sir juice

My dad was at that gig

I thought I heard him yelling during the intro to Magic Bus.
Something like "woooowooowoooo"

[Wasim]

Originally Posted by Chris2112

Given that I've hated everything else I've heard by The Who, I doubt I'd like it anyway...

Err, so what attracted you to this thread??

On topic, I find Entwistle's tone grates after a while on Live at Leeds, I can't listen to the whole thing. It's a bit to sharp and in-your-face, although of course that combined with his style of playing is why he's John Entwistle.

[Baryonyx]

Just because the music isn't to my taste doesn't mean I'm not into a bit of "tone science"...

[One Drop]

I think a lot of Entwistle's tone came from the way he hit the strings, too. As said before you can model a certain number of parameters, but his attack was very dynamic and changed during songs and passages to bring out different harmonic information.

Take a P bass with Rotos and strike a string lightly but firmly with some bounceback so you don't choke it- you'll get a chiming piano-like tone with what seems like double the volume of a regular finger pluck, and heaps of bottom (I don't agree at all that the Swingbass set has no bottom, in fact they are a very bassy string, with a crazy top).On some passages you can hear the harmonics singing like a guitar doubling his basslines and sandwiching Townshend's guitar, a very musical effect brought to the fore with his methods of amplification.

Controlling this way of playing at volume is extremely difficult and it puts me in awe of JE even more. It also explains how he could play with insanely low action as it gets the string vibrating a lot without moving it far from it's original static position like picking or plucking hard does.

I might be way off base about this, but it's what I've garnered from watching, hearing and reading, and experimenting with my Tokai and Rotos.

[Matt Till]

So, are these sound clips happening?

[zazz]

entwhistle always had the attitude of just letting the rest of the band get on with it while he tried to hold it all together as best he could.

so its not surprising that he tried to stay away from that middle ground where it was all going on ....i thought he didnt just have a high end but a scooped middle ....the bass rumbles low and cuts through high...

and if you look at his finger style you will realise that he doesnt so much pluck as hammer with small finger punches ..both left and right hands have this approach giving a very percusive controlled attack and staccato where needed.

so in the wrong hands of course the live at leeds tone on its own is not enough....because its technique as well.

[WarriorJoe7]

Originally Posted by Matt Till

So, are these sound clips happening?

well I never said I had a way to get you guys decent soundclip... i can't just run the pod straight into the computer...

[nickbear]

i will not believe a POD can do that tone well without hearing soundclips..

ok of course you can get bright trebly tones with some grit but i cant see how the powerful character of that tone can be achieved on a POD...

soundclips please..

[fenderhutz]

I can tell from owning the bass pod the the live at leeds preset with a passive jazz bass and the amp set to 12 oclock IS the sound he had.

By itself it sounds like poop, play along with it, dead on. Very trebly and alot of gain response.

[WarriorJoe7]

Thank you fenderhutz... I agree... it is dead on for as much as I can tell.

Let me reiterate... Even the dynamics on certain notes are there!

[WarriorJoe7]

I hear ya but I got the tone with the pod...

Originally Posted by One Drop

I think a lot of Entwistle's tone came from the way he hit the strings, too. As said before you can model a certain number of parameters, but his attack was very dynamic and changed during songs and passages to bring out different harmonic information.

Take a P bass with Rotos and strike a string lightly but firmly with some bounceback so you don't choke it- you'll get a chiming piano-like tone with what seems like double the volume of a regular finger pluck, and heaps of bottom (I don't agree at all that the Swingbass set has no bottom, in fact they are a very bassy string, with a crazy top).On some passages you can hear the harmonics singing like a guitar doubling his basslines and sandwiching Townshend's guitar, a very musical effect brought to the fore with his methods of amplification.

Controlling this way of playing at volume is extremely difficult and it puts me in awe of JE even more. It also explains how he could play with insanely low action as it gets the string vibrating a lot without moving it far from it's original static position like picking or plucking hard does.

I might be way off base about this, but it's what I've garnered from watching, hearing and reading, and experimenting with my Tokai and Rotos.

[One Drop]

We'll have to take your word for it, I guess. Great you can get close enough for your needs, whatever the result!

[nysbob]

I guess the only problem now is playing as well as Entwistle.

[Rhythm5]

John's sound was mainly from his technique. You could always tell it was him no matter what the rig was.

[WarriorJoe7]

Originally Posted by nysbob

I guess the only problem now is playing as well as Entwistle.

you can say that again... I don't think I can play any one whole song off that album except that short little ditty "Tommy can you hear me?" and even that was a little tough to learn...

[dmilt23451]

Originally Posted by WarriorJoe7

well I never said I had a way to get you guys decent soundclip... i can't just run the pod straight into the computer...

I'm pretty sure that you can though