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Best Sounding Bass ever

#82
No way I can answer the question, because the best sounding bass depends on the song in which it resides. The best sounding bass is variable.

Example; would Chris Squire's bass tone on Roundabout work as well in "Something" by the Beatles? Would Mccartney's bass tone from "Something" work for Metallica's "One"?

There's a lot of "best sounding basses ever" in my opinion.
 
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#87
The two basses Herbie Flowers used on Lou Reed's "Take a Walk on the Wild Side", one an upright, and the other a Jazz Bass. No one has ever come close to that sound, sorry.
herbie flowers.jpg
 
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#88
madjazzbass said:
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?
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Impossible to answer. "Best sounding" is completely subjective, and a bass that might sound "best" to us in one context might sound absolutely horrible in another.
 
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#93
BassHappy said:
For me, it's not even close. PRS #11 from 1977 has a special multi-tap Hi-A "Beast" pickup specially wound to Paul's specs by Bill Bartolini. It was rigged to a 9-position rotary switch which Paul modified from the original Bartolini guitar switch design. Nine different combinations of in out and of phase between the pickup coils. All usable - deep, warm, round, rich and full. Don't get overly excited. Not only has Bartolini never offered this exact pickup for sale - all the specs were destroyed in a fire. Only a handful were made from the original specs that Paul requested from Bill - and they went directly to Paul. It is not a standard Bartolini item and likely never will be.

For the crunch and edge - the bridge pickup was robbed out of my 1975 Rickenbacker 4001. A couple of years later, Paul came to a show and told me he thought he could improve on the sound of that pickup and asked me if he could re-wind it - which he did to his own exacting specs. I loved how it kept it's chain-saw crunch but at the same time got rid of a bit of the klack. As far as I know, it's the only Rickenbacker pickup Paul ever re-configured. So with the 9 position rotary switch and the Rickenbacker pickup there are 19 sounds. It wasn't just that it is the greatest sounding bass I have ever played or heard, it's also the fact that it is by far the most versatile. I used to love the backline shows, because this bass sounds great plugged into anything. Always a treat to "dial-a-brew" and hear it through different rigs.

View attachment 3242045

Paul Reed Smith #11
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Wow! Just read your whole story...that is one special bass.
 
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#96
Tim Skaggs said:
No way I can answer the question, because the best sounding bass depends on the song in which it resides. The best sounding bass is variable.

Example; would Chris Squire's bass tone on Roundabout work as well in "Something" by the Beatles? Would Mccartney's bass tone from "Something" work for Metallica's "One"?

There's a lot of "best sounding basses ever" in my opinion.
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Yes, because there is no Bass on Metallica's 'One' :woot:;)
 

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