That's kind of an unfair question, isn't it? I mean, the "live tone" belongs to the venue as much as to the bass player, right?
Here's several examples. I saw Jeff Beck over at the Universal Amphitheater a couple of years ago, and then saw the exact same band again about three months later, except this time they were outdoors. The tonal difference was like night and day. Outdoors they sounded great. Indoors the bass was boomy and entirely overwhelming. Maybe the subs just happened to be pointed at the sixth row, which is where we were. Who knows.
Another example, a few years back I saw the Spin Doctors at the Greek Theater. Mark White was using a wall of Mesa cabs, and they just didn't sound right in that venue. Probably it had something to do with the layout, 'cause I've seen him several times and he's always sounded great, except for that one time. That time, it sounded like he could have used a couple of subs. The bass was all mids and no bottom. Too bad, 'cause he's a killer bass player, especially he's got a great slap groove. Fortunately, I was busy enough watching his fingers through the binoculars, so much so that I wasn't really all that conerned about the sound. Well, people go to shows for different reasons y'know.
And then my last example would be RTF at the Hollywood Bowl. I've never been more disappointed with Stanley in my whole entire life, and I've seen him several dozen times at least. This time I couldn't even hear him most of the night, all I could hear was Lenny beating on the toms. Every other time I've heard him his sound was superb, whether he was using the 370's like in the old days, or the EBS stuff, or whatever. And I'm guessing he probably sounded just fine on stage. It's just that the Bowl is one of the world's worst venues for bass.
So that's kinda my point, the venue has everything to do with the live sound. And of course the engineers, and how comfortable they are dialing up a mix to compensate for the room (or lack thereof). Mixing bass is a science all its own. You can't just point subs at the audience, there's a lot more to it. Especially in an arena setting, when the seats are staggered vertically. It's hard enough dealing with the delays and all that, but the vertical part can be "really" tough.
Now if you want to ask me what's the "best" live bass sound I've ever heard, I'd have to say Phil Lesh at Madison Square Gardens. Of course the Dead was legendary for their sound system, but I swear you could hear a pin drop on that stage. Phil's sound was so articulate that night, it's like I could hear every little pick noise. He had a perfect mix, he sounded sweet when he wanted to, and authoritative when he needed to. And it seemed to me he was dialing it all up right from his bass. Awesome.
