• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Famous tone that annoys you

#21
In the 50's and 60's, the majority of tone was thumpy flats on a P bass, or a Gibson mudbucker, or some sort of hollow body. people went crazy over it, then people got tired of it and looked for someting new.

The pendulum swung and Entwistle and Squire came around with their Rotosounds and bright up front in the mix bass and people went crazy for it, then people got tired of it and looked for something new.

Then something different happened. Instead of the pendulum swing to and fro with a steady, predictable swing from extremes of scoop at one end to a sea of mud at the other, the contemporary music scene shattered in seemingly millions of niche factions, each with their own distinctive cliches, and people got tired of other peoples tone in the niche next door.
 
#22
I really don't like the bassist from Death Cab's tone on the Narrow Stairs album.
I really don't like P-Nut's tone.
I really don't like Flea's tone.


I don't know if that is famous tone, but I don't like it.

I really like the guys from Sublime and Matisyahu's tone. I also really like Jeph Howard's, Juan Aldrete's, and Tim Commerford's tone the best.
 
#24
A lot of treble hate in this thread.

I've always liked some treble, you can hear the details.

You have to play as clean and tight as possible when you have high end or it jumps out loud and clear.
If you don't agree, then turn up some treble on your amp and see how clean your playing really is.

Oh yeah, who has a tone that annoys me?

First that springs to mind is John Paul Jones. You can shove your head inside a huge pillow and it sounds the same.

Geezer Butler had a pretty awful tone too, but played some good parts on Sabbaths Heaven and Hell.

This is purely a statement of opinion.
 
#25
/\/\/\ see i love Geezer's tone :D

and Paul McCartney's, FWIW

i'm generally not a big fan of that Jaco burpy bridge-pickup-on-a-jazz tone. but then i was listening to a Squarepusher song and thought 'wow that bass sounds great' - in which there was a tone very similar (don't think he uses a Jazz but anyway).
 
#26
I hate the sound of that Sugarland chick singer. Talk about grating. Geddy's voice - even back in the day - sounds 10 times warmer than that. I know different strokes, but seriously, how can anyone think that's a great voice?
 
#33
SteveC said:
I hate the sound of that Sugarland chick singer. Talk about grating. Geddy's voice - even back in the day - sounds 10 times warmer than that. I know different strokes, but seriously, how can anyone think that's a great voice?
Click to expand...

OMG this is the most accurate thing anyone has said on here!
that chick is nails-on-a-chalkboard irritating.
and yet they are huge. HOW???
 
#35
Just about anything played with a pick.

Absolutely anything played on a Ric with a pick.

Just about anything with fuzz/grit/grind or any other kind of square-wave distortion.

Sorry, but I love a really sweet, rich, bassy singing tone. I love hearing the bass tones on records from the heyday of 70's recordings by the Eagles, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, James Taylor et al. I like warmth and sustain and a bit of high-end detail, articulate without being tinny. That's my ideal bass tone. I think in a lot of ways it's less about the bass than about the eq at the amp and the cabs... I get this tone with my Stingrays, but I'm using 12 or 15" speakers, and NO TWEETERS.
 
#36
FromTheBassMent said:
I think in a lot of ways it's less about the bass than about the eq at the amp and the cabs... I get this tone with my Stingrays, but I'm using 12 or 15" speakers, and NO TWEETERS.
Click to expand...

I think I'm done with tweeters myself. In some respects they have to be one of the worst developments ever in the evolution of modern bass tone. Why accentuate the treble in an instrument whose very name defines it as the opposite of treble?
 
#38
Jools4001 said:
In the 50's and 60's, the majority of tone was thumpy flats on a P bass, or a Gibson mudbucker, or some sort of hollow body. people went crazy over it, then people got tired of it and looked for someting new.

The pendulum swung and Entwistle and Squire came around with their Rotosounds and bright up front in the mix bass and people went crazy for it, then people got tired of it and looked for something new.

Then something different happened. Instead of the pendulum swing to and fro with a steady, predictable swing from extremes of scoop at one end to a sea of mud at the other, the contemporary music scene shattered in seemingly millions of niche factions, each with their own distinctive cliches, and people got tired of other peoples tone in the niche next door.
Click to expand...

Eloquently put, and I couldn't agree more... I tend to TRY for somewhere between a modern and vintage sound, but yeah, everyone's doing something different these days... which is cool.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back