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Good bassist, bad tone
- Thread starter ChopperDave
- Start date
From the original post:
Are there any bassists where you love their playing, but don't like their tone?
That's the thought exercise here. So, it's subjective. Like good tone.
Are there any bassists where you love their playing, but don't like their tone?
That's the thought exercise here. So, it's subjective. Like good tone.
Jaco Pastorius, Cliff Burton, Billy Sheehan, Lemmy *shots fired* 
I have nothing but admiration for Jaco's talent and compositions, but I just can't listen to that tone, unless he's playing exclusively harmonics (think Portrait of Tracy). Saying that, I've never liked any kind of fretless sound.
I love Metallica's old work, and again, I completely respect Burton, but I can't listen to their live stuff. His tone in the studio was fine to me, but I can't stand the tone he got in a live setting, particularly his bass solos for Master of the Puppets. All that distortion and wah just doesn't do it for me.
Sheehan - awful, awful tone. Not a fan of his playing either, just seems overly flashy to me.
I think Lemmy is absolutely brilliant, just in terms of attitude and the songs he writes, but the tone he gets out of such a gorgeous instrument is baffling. Far too honky and overdriven, sounds more like a guitar than a bass.
I have nothing but admiration for Jaco's talent and compositions, but I just can't listen to that tone, unless he's playing exclusively harmonics (think Portrait of Tracy). Saying that, I've never liked any kind of fretless sound.
I love Metallica's old work, and again, I completely respect Burton, but I can't listen to their live stuff. His tone in the studio was fine to me, but I can't stand the tone he got in a live setting, particularly his bass solos for Master of the Puppets. All that distortion and wah just doesn't do it for me.
Sheehan - awful, awful tone. Not a fan of his playing either, just seems overly flashy to me.
I think Lemmy is absolutely brilliant, just in terms of attitude and the songs he writes, but the tone he gets out of such a gorgeous instrument is baffling. Far too honky and overdriven, sounds more like a guitar than a bass.
Jaco Pastorius, Cliff Burton, Billy Sheehan, Lemmy *shots fired*
I have nothing but admiration for Jaco's talent and compositions, but I just can't listen to that tone, unless he's playing exclusively harmonics (think Portrait of Tracy). Saying that, I've never liked any kind of fretless sound.
I love Metallica's old work, and again, I completely respect Burton, but I can't listen to their live stuff. His tone in the studio was fine to me, but I can't stand the tone he got in a live setting, particularly his bass solos for Master of the Puppets. All that distortion and wah just doesn't do it for me.
Sheehan - awful, awful tone. Not a fan of his playing either, just seems overly flashy to me.
I think Lemmy is absolutely brilliant, just in terms of attitude and the songs he writes, but the tone he gets out of such a gorgeous instrument is baffling. Far too honky and overdriven, sounds more like a guitar than a bass.
I agree 99%. Sheehan's tone varies. I don't like his 'mud pudding' shredding tone, but sometimes he has an amazing P-bass tone that is brilliantly overdriven but still clear and bassy.
Marcus Miller. Hats off to the guy his playing is AWESOME! But that tone
no mids at all. Just zingy, piercing treble and pitch- less, rumbling sub-bass. UGH! 
I'd be willing to wager there are plenty of recordings of fretless basses with tone you like just fine. You just aren't conscious of what type of bass is being played.
I always loved iron maiden and learning all their hits on bass in college but I HATE steve harrises tone. If you ever listen to a bass track of his youll hear not only a gross plunky weak hollow sound but it makes the mistakes he makes in his playing stand out. Its hard for me tonlisten to them because of listening to their master tracks. I still love plahing them, especially at double speed, I just cant dig his playing anymore.
Jason Newsted. Good player with a bad sound. I wish they let him do his own thing instead of being the robot bassist. Glad he left and the Metallica newest bassist sucks.
All of metallica sucks now. Its like their talent was fueled by alcohol. Have you heard their new song "lords of summer"? Depresingly terrible. Those guys need to hit the bottle again and get back on track.
Pretty sure at their age it would kill them.
I think they should host a talent show for hard rock acts - call it 'American Metol.'
Let them act as the panel of judges. Might be fun. Hilarious, even.
Have to say Geddy. He's probably the main reason I started playing bass all those years ago, and while I liked most of the tones he's gotten over time, in recent years when he's got his Jazz on and he leans on the Sansamp part of his signal chain a little too much... ugh, it just sounds like "ggghhrrriiinnnnrhhrrrrzrziinnngggggrzrzrzrhhiinngggrrrzzzzz"
Wooten and Berlin too. They've both had undeniable impact on my own playing, but their tones are kinda meh to me.
Wooten and Berlin too. They've both had undeniable impact on my own playing, but their tones are kinda meh to me.
I'm usually not a fan of bright bass or clicky-sounding bass. Distorted bass can sound bad too.
Cliff Burton (isolated on Puppets) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY8zdTO0pvg
Billy Sheehan's tone can sound like distorted, airy, fluffiness with no oomph: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1d_mq5lEN4
John Entwistle didn't always sound good to me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPnWDimkZnI
Jason Newsted in the early 1990s sounded really thin and empty. Don't know if this changed when he started playing Sadowsky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7nCvpWADtU
Cliff Burton (isolated on Puppets) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY8zdTO0pvg
Billy Sheehan's tone can sound like distorted, airy, fluffiness with no oomph: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1d_mq5lEN4
John Entwistle didn't always sound good to me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPnWDimkZnI
Jason Newsted in the early 1990s sounded really thin and empty. Don't know if this changed when he started playing Sadowsky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7nCvpWADtU
Yeah, that must be why every fretless player in the world still tries to cop his tone... or the fact that many Jazz bass pickups are advertised as "giving you that Jaco tone".
"Bad name to Jazz basses"? Jaco has caused more Jazz basses to be sold than anyone else ever.
That was exactly the problem I had when trying to buy pickups years ago from a local guitar shop, who installed them. I puposefully looked up Bartolini's brightest, most aggressive PJ set, and found out years later the regular set was installed.
First thing the guy does when I get the bass back at his shop - plugs into an Acoustic amp, soloes the rear J pup and plays some Jaco riffs "This thing gets a great Jaco tone".
He was elated. My heart sank as a nasal, burpy tone was the antithesis of the grindy, raw and full tone I wanted.
I later grew to love Jaco(I was a kid), but never his tone.
And, I understand why Billy Sheehan uses so much compression but I never was a fan.
A lot of people hate the quintessential Ric "Squire tone", but look up Mew's "And the Glass-Handed Kites" sometime. I had no idea a 4001 could pull off such a thick, yet brilliant tone.
Thought it was a "bright" Precision bass for a long time.
Andrew Levy of the Brand New Heavies, one of my favorites and an influence. Sometimes, I hate his tone.
