For punch you can't beat the fart tone though I guess for legato playing you'd go for more of a SBD thang.
I don't limit myself to one tone, for me that would be very monotonous (how redundant was that?
). One of the things that I usually bring up when asked "Why more than one bass?" is that basses have different natural voices, to me. I have a great deal of control over the tone of each one with my hands but slight differences in articulation, feel and other things make them fun for me to play, too.
So...sometimes I use the fart tone. Sometimes the deep thick tone. Other times a clear, even tone. Maybe a phat slap tone. Depends on the song. Every thing I use cuts through otherwise what's the point? While we're at it, the tone that really gets me is the scooped (or almost total lack of) mids sound. The audio opposite of the fart tone, I find it highly annoying... and I slap, just not with that tone.
We're at a point where technique seems to be winning vs. feel on electric bass, instead of a melding of the two. Jaco's playing was a wake up call, his tone was a big part of it. Now we're surrounded by people who have worked their chops up to speeds that most mortals can't comprehend, hey, it impresses other bass players, that's what's important, right? What better way than with a tone that cuts?
BTW JazznFunk, you're probably not getting tone complaints because you're not venturing outside the norms. There are gigs where you'll definitely hear about it if the tone isn't deemed appropriate for the material.
