I was thinking of the metal bassists with the best tone. I was thinking Danny Lilker from SOD on the album Speak English Or Die and Geezer, especially on the Paranoid album.
These guys are probably considered more as hard rock players: John Paul Jones Doug Pinnick Robert DeLeo
Im a fan of Cannibal Corpse bassist Alex Websters tone specifically Tomb of the Mutilated. For distorted tone my fav grinder bassist is the guy from Brutal Truth (the Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses album) and second would be Shane from Napalm Death.
yeah, Alex Webster's (Cannibal Corpse) sound kills, especially on "The Bleeding". I love it. Also Sean Malone's tone on Cynic's "Focus" is great. These both sounds are just always audible and have their own place in the mix - and that's not easy with this kind of playing, right?
Sheet Metal with a 1/4 hole drilled in each corner and then braced between two stable poles with bungee cord and "S" hooks. Hey it works for Einsturzende NeuBauten and IS my favorite metal tone of all time.
Alex Webster - on Tomb of the Mutilated and Gore Obsessed Steve Harris - on Killers and Number of the Beast Jason Newsted - Garage Days Re-revisited and his recent stuff (post-Metallica) Rune (from Tristania) - World of Glass Sami (from Nightwish) - Oceanborn
You mention Geezer...Yeah, for fat, all-around great rock tone, I'd have to give it to either Geezer or John Paul Jones!
Eric Langlois on all albums, especially ...And Then You'll Beg Steve Digiorgio on all records he's played of especially with Testament's Souls of Black and Death's Symbolic.
Alex Webster of Cannibal Corpse is THE metal bassist.. The guy's hands are just a blur when he's playing.
DiGiorgio didn't play on those albums, man.....Greg Christian played bass on Souls Of Black, and Kelly Conlon did bass on Death's Symbolic. you must've meant "Individual Thought Patterns"/"Human" and "The Gathering"
David Ellefson (Megadeth)- the Jackson tone on Rust in peace, Countdown to extinction, also the P bass tone on The world needs a hero Billy Gould (Faith No More)- the real thing
I'd have to agree with those who mentioned Alex - he's an exceptional player in metal and has a right-hand technique pretty much all his own; "machine gun bass" as I like to call it. Sean