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Blown away by the bass tone

#381
Anything, and I mean ANYTHING, by James Jamerson, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Bootsie, or Carol Kaye. The fingers on all these people just drip with tone and funk. Hard for me to pick a fav among this pantheon of greats, but if I had to, it would be Jamerson, the iconic Motown sound with bass lines like "Bernadette" and "Reach Out" Awesome stuff
 
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#386
Basshappi said:
Peter "Mars" Cowling - The Pat Travers Band - Great player and great tone. From the first album through the "Radioactive" album IIRC. I think his best work is on the albums "Makin Magic", "Heat In The Street" and "Crash and Burn".
Their live album ""Go For What You Know" is one of the great sounding live albums of the era. Mars has a sound that not only fits the pocket but actually cuts through with good definition (very unusual for bass in live recordings back then).


I always saw him with a Fender Precision and his recorded tones do sound consistent with it. I'm not sure what amplification but probably Ampeg.
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Mars used to play in a band I was doing sound for at the time (back in the 80's), and I got to know his setup and style pretty well. At the time he was using IIRC an Ampeg head and cabinet. He was playing a royal blue Pbass with a gold pick guard. One of the first "special" P basses with the J pup. A lot of his tone came from the way he would dig in with his right hand, and where he placed it. He showed me quite a bit and was a big influence on my decision to be a bassist. And what a sense of humor! A real class act, the world lost a great one when he passed.
 
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#392
Al Krow said:
We TB'ers spend a lot of time pursuing that elusive tone quest.

What song tracks have you come across on your travels, either studio recorded or particularly live, where you were blown away by the bass tone?

If you have audio or video clips then please feel free to share and if you know the details of the rig, even better!
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One that jumps to mind for me, is Colin Moulding's fat bass tone on XTC's "Smartest Monkeys". Very different to my personal "Go-to" tone that I favour for most songs, but a wicked tone to have in your bag of tricks. Here's the link (bass doesn't kick in till 44 seconds, and features nicely from 3 minutes on):
 
#397
Al Krow said:
We TB'ers spend a lot of time pursuing that elusive tone quest.

What song tracks have you come across on your travels, either studio recorded or particularly live, where you were blown away by the bass tone?

If you have audio or video clips then please feel free to share and if you know the details of the rig, even better!
Click to expand...

Not so much blown away, but a few that stand out as being great :

Billy Gould's tone on everything FNM
Bob Daisley's tone on 'Crazy Train' (P Bass/Ampeg)
Craig Gruber's tone on the 1st Rainbow album (RD Artist?)
Martin Turner's tone on 'FUBB' which is a great T Bird noise!

there is a great tone to the bass on 'Barracuda' by Heart.....especially just as the break down after the verse occurs.....also T Bird I believe.

Paul Gray of Eddie And The Hotrods had a great sound on their 'Life On The Line' album.....I think that was recorded with a Rick 4000, although he later played a 4001
The best Rick sound that I ever had was from a 4000 which I tried out in a shop...used, a bit scruffy, it was priced at £400. I thought it way too much money (1999) and so I left it!

Anyway.....crack up the volume and remind yourselves!
 
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