Best Sounding Bass ever

[nonohmic]

Jimmy Johnson’s Alembic. Playing with James Taylor in his All Star Band. I swear I could not get over how good he sounded. It was what I can only describe as perfect tone. Warm, Clear, Tight, Punchy when needed. I have no doubt his hands do much of this but wow it sounded amazing. Check JT out on Austin City Limits and you’ll hear what I’m talking about.


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Just went and listened to this and yes the playing and tone are amazing. But if he were playing a good P bass I feel like it could sound the same. I certainly didn't hear anything that couldn't be played on a MIM P; by the right player that is.

Now feel and looks are a different story altogether..

 

[Gyver]

 

[gumbynotpokey]

Well, this is TB so we answer as follows: any P with TI flats and a tort pickguard, or did the OP mean the best bass for metal?

I love two of the previous posts that name the Rics played by Geddy and Chris. I also love the previous post saying a bass has no sound until it is played.

The OP poses a tough question. I'll say Phil Lesh in the 70's, 80's and 90's, and Steve Harris at any time.

My real answer? No clue, man. No clue.



Have a nice day.

 

[Bent77]

I played a cheap Squiere through a SVT powered 810

It was great. Even with me playing

 

[JW56789]

Jimmy Johnson’s Alembic. Playing with James Taylor in his All Star Band. I swear I could not get over how good he sounded. It was what I can only describe as perfect tone. Warm, Clear, Tight, Punchy when needed. I have no doubt his hands do much of this but wow it sounded amazing. Check JT out on Austin City Limits and you’ll hear what I’m talking about.


View attachment 3242273

There are so many great players and amazing basses out there, so many, many worthy ones. But to me, this is a Master at work on a masterwork of an instrument, and you'd never meet a more humble or nicer guy in the next 50 years, or hear better tone, taste, and technique, either. The Series 2 Alembic is a formidable instrument, and is quite fully realized in those hands.

And just to make it even more other-worldly to the rest of us, you almost always hear Jimmy direct: He feels a big amp on stage would interfere, bleeding into all the other mics onstage, so you are hearing it right out the end of his five-pin cable to a direct box, dry, no effects, aside from whatever the FOH adds. JT's live double Columbia CD set, "James Taylor Live" was recorded by George Massenburg thru Massenburg pre's straight into a Sony recorder with no post-show overdubs, so you can really hear him very clearly, dig the little tumble-down he pulls in 'Traffic Jam'. Remarkable.

 

[_godspeed_]

 

[arbiterusa]

You're not kidding. I have one, just like yours (unlined as well, the only way to fly) but L-2 as opposed to your sweet XL2. I have played with guys who for weeks did not realize it was fretless because if you play it straight, it is just as punchy as any fretted instrument made.

It's my #1 and has been that since the day I bought it 33 years ago.

You were close anyway.
The fretless version has the sweetest jazz tones with a variety of aggressive accents available at the touch of a hand stroke.
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[Smooth_bass88]

What is (without a doubt) the absolute Best Sounding Bass You've EVER heard? whether you owned that Bass or not. I never owned one, but I'd say the Fender Marcus Miller Bass is the best sounding Bass I've ever heard. What say you?

Lakland US 4460. Happens to be my main workhorse bass.

 

[Jesuguru]

I owned an early Ken Smith. No dead notes.
None.

I own a 6-string Ken Smith that's the first of 4-5 I've had with no dead spots. It also has the Smith tone like the others, meaning it is the (arguably) best bass tone around.

 

[Jason42]

Live bass. Just always has more presence. But Entwhistle's (sp) tone on Eminince Front is awesome.
I'd love to know the instrument and setup

 

[madbass6]

What is (without a doubt) the absolute Best Sounding Bass You've EVER heard? whether you owned that Bass or not. I never owned one, but I'd say the Fender Marcus Miller Bass is the best sounding Bass I've ever heard. What say you?

Fodera ,smith,spector,modulus, of course can't leave fender out!

 

[mikewalker]

Best sounding?

That would be a toss-up between a late-seventies Kramer 450B

(played it in a music store circa 1979, just didn't have the funds available at the time...)

OR

My current LIGHTWAVE bass (it's their old budget model, about ten years old)

I am pretty sure that it's strung with SR2000 Dean Markley strings (possibly its original set!) - and this thing is the most ringing, harmonically complex bass I have ever heard...

 

[40Hz]

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Beautiful isn’t it? first time I heard one it was played by Colin Bass with Camel. The people with me at the concert were in hysterics watching the expression on my face when the first song started. I was lost in Holy Bass Space for the first three numbers. It changed my life.





More seriously, something about a Wal’s timbre just hits me where I live.

Fortunately, the price for one is safely outside the range of my purse, so I’m only suffering the mildest of GAS over my not owning one.

 

[jmon]

There are so many great players and amazing basses out there, so many, many worthy ones. But to me, this is a Master at work on a masterwork of an instrument, and you'd never meet a more humble or nicer guy in the next 50 years, or hear better tone, taste, and technique, either. The Series 2 Alembic is a formidable instrument, and is quite fully realized in those hands.

And just to make it even more other-worldly to the rest of us, you almost always hear Jimmy direct: He feels a big amp on stage would interfere, bleeding into all the other mics onstage, so you are hearing it right out the end of his five-pin cable to a direct box, dry, no effects, aside from whatever the FOH adds. Remarkable.

Agreed 100%. He takes tone, technique and taste to another level to me. Comparable only to maybe Lee Sklar. Who interestingly enough has also played with JT for years off and on. James certainly has excellent taste in bass players and I’m sure he has his pick on any players he might choose.

Guess we can throw Lee Sklar’s Old Frankenstein Bass in that mix too! But again....his playing takes a killer bass to another level.

 

[Jay2U]

The one in the middle with the blueburst body.

 

[Skillet]

Mentioning Lee, his "producer switch" will surely improve even the best sounding bass for recording purposes.

 

[burgerdj]

I’m still chasing the tone of an early 90s Warwick Streamer Stage I through an SWR Baby Blue with Bag End speakers. It still haunts me.

 

[Tom Bomb]

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[10cc]

Beautiful isn’t it? first time I heard one it was played by Colin Bass with Camel. The people with me at the concert were in hysterics watching the expression on my face when the first song started. I was lost in Holy Bass Space for the first three numbers. It changed my life.





More seriously, something about a Wal’s timbre just hits me where I live.

Fortunately, the price for one is safely outside the range of my purse, so I’m only suffering the mildest of GAS over my not owning one.

It is fun admiring them though isn’t it. One day oh yes one day.

 

[Ric5]

What is (without a doubt) the absolute Best Sounding Bass You've EVER heard? whether you owned that Bass or not. I never owned one, but I'd say the Fender Marcus Miller Bass is the best sounding Bass I've ever heard. What say you?

I am not sure I believe in a perfect bass … there are good basses and not so good basses

Also quite often to get a strength in a bass you also get a weakness …

My favorite bass today is this one

My opinion may change tomorrow … I do have 15 other basses