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Famous tone that annoys you

#82
guroove said:
Perhaps we wouldn't notice the chops so much if their tone wasn't so annoying.
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Good point. I think some really accomplished players and composers sometimes go to some pretty extreme lengths to get a unique or original tone.

Think of some of these players and their unique bass/amp configurations, and how different they are from, say, a standard P-Bass with rounds through a whitebread amp.
 
#85
stoolpigeon said:
Victror Wooten, and Jaco....love the playing of both, but the tone is not to my taste.
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There is a lesson to be had from comments such as these, which are abundant in this thread already.

Tone can atone for a multitude of limitations as a player, AND tone can be a near-fatal distraction from otherwise outstanding playing.

I have a personal rule-of-thumb about my own tone: If you sound too good to yourself on stage, beware. You might not sound nearly as good 20 feet away.

YMMV.
 
#89
Marco A. Mayer said:
Well, we can't give Mr. X credits for that because we don't even know who he is in fact. :D
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I KNOW!! Believe me, I've searched for him. 'Quai is one of my foremost bass inspirations, and that track is my favorite of theirs. Unfortunately, it looks like we may never have a satisfactory answer after all the speculation, false claiming (Joeri Hommerson, that fraud) and Jay Kay's drugged-out fuzzy memory.

A few of my own personal theories as to who he may be:

1). Jaco himself, back from the dead (or from that hidden island where Elvis, Tupac et. al. ended up), ripping it up for one last, glory-filled moment in Europop!

2). John Entwistle, taking a walk on the wild side of bouncy fretless funk.

3). Barack Obama. The man can do anything, right? :D (Ok, ok, not trying to get political or anything, I don't actually give two shakes about Obama or any other politician)

4) Sid Vicious.

5). Jay Kay, playing with only his feet.

6). Stu Zender himself, in a brilliant but uncharacteristic moment, playing better than ever before or since! :hiding:

And thanks, CapnSev, for that killer video. Can't really get enough of Stu either!
 
#90
Marco A. Mayer said:
I was actually talking bout the studio line.

Hmm. I've never seen Zender live with a P! He used one on the "Stillness in Time" videoclip, right?
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Yeah, I like the studio line a lot, but the chorus is kind of anti-climactic to me.

I read in an interview with Fender that Stu used a P on a lot of the Space Cowboy album, and wanted to go back to that sound with the Mark Ronson stuff.
 
#94
CapnSev said:
Yeah, I like the studio line a lot, but the chorus is kind of anti-climactic to me.

I read in an interview with Fender that Stu used a P on a lot of the Space Cowboy album, and wanted to go back to that sound with the Mark Ronson stuff.
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Agreed with Stu's studio version of Space Cowboy, was headed in a good direction but just didn't quite do it for me the way the rest of his playing on that album did. It was a wise move of the producer to go with the other version, and release Stu's for the video.

And I'm interested to hear that he used lots of P that album. Thought he was still really into his Warwick, although the whole album does have a very 70's warm veneer to it.

Speaking of tone, I always liked what Stu did with effects and whatnot. On top of his killer 'vanilla' tone, his sound on tracks like 'Blow Your Mind' and 'Just Another Story' was unique but tasteful.
 
#95
Duff mckagen, gnr used to be my fav band, but that sterile lifeless chorus tone just got more and more annoying as time went on... way over done..


Any springy sproingy p-bass "punk" tone, BLEH!

Chris squire yes,... sounds like hes playing a banjo....

anyone now trying to emulate corny 80s Seinfeld theme-esc canned tone.
 
#97
CrimsonGhost said:
Any springy sproingy p-bass "punk" tone, BLEH!
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Y'know, on some tracks I agree, but then on others I really like it. I, for one, like lots of the tone on Operation Ivy albums, for example (don't know what he was playing, but the idea is there). Flea gets a tone like that for "Behind the Sun" (also has that low action buzz on notes towards the nut, which I also like selectively). I really like Krist Novoselic's tone on most of Nirvana's nevermind, which, in spite of having been played on a thunderbird, sounds very P like to me.

EDIT: some sources say Nevermind was actually recorded on a Gibson Ripper bass.
 
#98
I really like Flea's, Geddy Lee's, and Chris Squire's tones. Those are some of my favorite bands (and not just for the bass).

I guess this thread really shows personal tastes are really personal. That's why I don't usually take what somebody says about a movie as gospel.
 

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