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Bassist with most UNIQUE tone

#161
Percy Jones with that cutting grrrrrrooowwwwllllll of his and his crazy tricks with artificial harmonics and swoops!

Jaco of course

Stanley Clarke

Anthony Jackson - Those grooves, that deep genius musicianship and that dark low-octave of the piano-like tone get me every time!

Janick Top and Bernard Paganotti (both Magma alumni) with their heavy overdrive/fuzz sound that still sounds clean and musical somehow. Some things just cannot be readily explained.

Chris Squire
 
#162
Blunt said:
-----Ralphe Armstrongs distortion on Jean-Luc-Ponty's Enigmatic Ocean. Simply amazing and a real lot of fun to listen to. JPJ's sound on Led Zeppilen 2. Priceless.
geez I am showing my age and fusion obsessiveness!
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Ralphe Armstrong was a killer player alright! I LOVED his big, growly fretless tone on "Cosmic Messenger" especially! Amazing to think he got that sound from a Gibson of all things!

Jonesy was a MAJOR part of Zep's overall sound, not only a smoking bassist but hsi keyboard and arranging skills were amazing as well!
 
#167
Many great players have been mentioned here, and many actually do have unique tone ... but the one I think has the most distinctive and unique tone, and only mentioned twice in the nine pages of this thread.

TONY LEVIN :eyebrow:

Tonys right hand "sticks" technique is unique it its own right, and the tone it generates is VERY rare. His tone by use of is array of FX is also unique. Listen to him on any recording he has done and he is recognizable just by his tone and playing style alone. His sound is obviously all over Crimson and Gabriel, but how about Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe ... John Lennon ... Pink Floyd, just to mention his most "known" performances. His own Double Espresso ... Tony for sure ... Unmistakably TONY LEVIN ... Unique Tone Award. :smug:

IMHO :hyper:
 
#170
Hey Owl, good call on Janick Top. Most people here probably haven't heard of him, but he is one bad mutha. His playing on "De Futura" (on Udu Wudu by Magma) is one of the most amazing things I've ever heard. You're right, you just can't describe it. Ripping, distorted, funky and way over the top. The song just keeps building and getting faster until it rips your head off. Kohtarkosz is probably my favorite though. I like it much more than MDK (overrated IMO).
 
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#171
relayer66 said:
Hey Owl, good call on Janick Top. Most people here probably haven't heard of him, but he is one bad mutha. His playing on "De Futura" (on Udu Wudu by Magma) is one of the most amazing things I've ever heard. You're right, you just can't describe it. Ripping, distorted, funky and way over the top. The song just keeps building and getting faster until it rips your head off. Kohtarkosz is probably my favorite though. I like it much more than MDK (overrated IMO).
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Bernard Paganotti was pretty smoking with Magma too, but it was Janick that really laid the groundwork for that special Magma bass sound! I LOVE De Futura!!

I actually got to see Magma in 2003 at NEAR Fest, GOOD GAWD what a mindblowing experience! :bassist: My only disappointmen was they didn't play De Futura, but they hit plenty of other good stuff! I was one very happy Owl that night! A bunch of friends of mine from progressiveears.com and I got to hang out with most of the band later that night, we had one CROWDED hotel room until about 5am, boy was that fun! :hyper:
 
#172
Mojo-Man said:
:cool:
Early Jack Bruce-Gibson Fuzz tone.
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I was actually weirded out when I first heard that sound on the live version of "Crossroads", but have grown to appreciate and love that sound like a strange cousin.

One player who hasn't been mentioned at all, yet who I think had a very unique tone (whether tone means sound mixed with playing style, I don't know) is Berry Oakley from the Allman Brothers Band. Just listen to three live albums from '70 and '71 (Atlanta Pop Festival, Ludlow Garage, and of course The Fillmore Concerts), and you can hear how much his sound changes in just a year, and I like all three different approaches he takes, with the earlier sound being a lot twangier but deep. Kinda scary, actually, when he pulls out the three and four-string chords and just starts pounding away in his Mountain Jam solos.

Berry Oakley is one of the few bass players I've heard who plays four-note chords relatively low down on the neck. I always liked that about his playing; that he didn't equate "solo" with "play up past the 19th fret only".

Anyway, if you haven't heard him before, you should take a listen at the Fillmore Concerts CD. Truly one of rocks underrated bass players. Who knows what he would have been playing if he'd lived longer?
 
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