Cliff Williams (AC/DC) bass tone

[JimmyM]

This is the single most important part to nailing his tone. He palm mutes A TON. Watch him live, his right hand never leaves the bridge.

It sounds like absolute garbage solo'd, but when it's in a mix it takes on this magic warm, rich tone.

Pick, flats, and palm mute with the tone rolled off most of the way and you've got Cliff's sound.

So I was just listening to some iso tracks of Cliff's from Donnington, as well as a couple more recent songs where the bass is out in front, and while it does sound like Cliff does some palm muting at least some of the time, he definitely leaves the tone up to where he gets plenty of treble.

 

[nabilhuakbar]

All I said was that SME are annoying

Oh lol i was speaking metaphorically from the point of view of SME when I said "you" in all of that.

It's annoying af

 

[Danny E]

Oh lol i was speaking metaphorically from the point of view of SME when I said "you" in all of that.

It's annoying af

Haha oh right, I was like acdc music aint my music, what he goin on about lol

Daniel

 

[Rnr..........4]

Cliff used a Jazz on the Back in Black album. The studio engineer or producer talked about it. Recording “Back in Black” (the album): Interview(s) with Tony Platt

 

[Aussie Player]

Cliff and I had to first 2 Marshall 375W Model 2001 Bass heads in Oz, both ordered from Marshall independently before release. Mine lasted a year or so and the compression unit started playing up as by that time Jim Marshall was in Oz and offered me a full refund, as he was trying to pull them out of the market by then. Not sure what Cliff did with his.

 

[flatwound62p]

On the Highway to Hell and Powerage LP's he also used a Jazz Bass and a B-15 Flip Top

This just popped up on Reverb.

Ampeg B-18n Portaflex 45 Watt 1x18 " Bass Combo 1960 - 1962 Ampeg B-18n Portaflex 45 Watt 1x18 " Bass Combo 1960 - 1962 | Turtlerock | Reverb

 

[baddarryl]

What?

You mean ACDC had a bass player?

Nah seriously, Cliff's great, but Malcolm was such a strong rhythm guitarist that the role of the bass chair in ACDC has only ever been filling-out the bottom end of Malcolm's guitar which, I might add, Cliff did exceptionally well. The epitome of a disciplined, 'play for the song - never play a single unnecessary note - do so in perfect rhythm and meter - with great tone' rock bassist. I mean he had no choice. He was playing underneath the best rhythm guitarist in hard rock.

The boys in their hey day. WHAT A BAND !

Amen!

 

[bdeaux]

Was just checking out AC️DC tone references on the Solo Dallas site, ended up here as most enquiring bassists do. I liken the AC️ DC bass style to air conditioning. Everyone likes it, but sometimes it has cut out and come back in to get your attention . When I was getting back into playing rock music nearly 20 yrs back, my guitarist at the time knew what the song was lacking and his request to me was easily understood: “give me some Cliff Williams 8th notes”. It tied everything together - like Cliff, Mark, George, and Malcom did in the bass chair for all those classic songs.

 

[A.K.]

Very heavy palm muting, down strokes only, and flatwound strings are the key elements of his technique.

 

[pbass2]

Just listening to the Power Up album for the first time. If that's not a killer bass tone I don't know what is. And it's very "up front" in the mix, not just some low thud under the guitar as some folks think Cliff's bass sound equates to. Love it. I assume that's the 'Ray--sounds like it to me.