Top 3 players whose TONE you admire most...

[benjammin420]

John Entwistle
Aston Barrett
Eric Wilson

 

[dbass87]

Thought'd it be worth mentioning Billy Cox of the Band of Gypsys, I like his tone on the live at the Fillmore East disc... it's old school, just really like the sound of it

 

[DLKasim]

I don't see how Steve Harris and Cliff Burton have good tone. They're amazing players, they just have terrible tone.

I'm with you on Cliff's tone. I always though it was very lacking in low-end. Newsted's distorted tone was much, much better than Cliff's.

 

[godofthunder59]

Paul McCartney, John Entwistle and Jim Lea. In no particular order.

 

[calypsocoral302]

1) James Jamerson- That fat, solid, MoTown sound will be a staple of history.

2) John Entwistle- among the first to bring the bass to the forefront, and keeping solid rhythm section tone all the while. That's what a wall of KT88-powered HiWatt's can do.

3) Cliff Burton- I love the wild, manic, fuzzed-out sound during his solos, and the phat, massive basslines in songs like "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

Runners-up:
John Paul Jones- he is my biggest influence as a bass player. I love his sound, but, James Jamerson innovated it.

Geezer Butler- arguably the original metal bassist, but his sound is a bit like an expanded version of John Entwistle's.

Bootsy Collins- because you can't even think about funk bass without his rhinestone-covered bass just "popping in there"

 

[electracoyote]

In rock, that dude from Queensryche, can't recall his name but he played a Spector. I got hooked on Mindcrime and Empire, and one other, and I used to listen to them in heavy rotation. His tone was off the hook, sat in and cut through the mix so perfectly.

Bruce Thomas of Elvis Costello had a great tone.

And Geddy.

 

[acebase62]

James Jamerson
Jaco Pastorius
Marcus Miller

 

[39-Bassist]

Tim Gaines
Steve Harris
Tony Franklin

 

[shadowmac]

In rock, that dude from Queensryche, can't recall his name but he played a Spector. I got hooked on Mindcrime and Empire, and one other, and I used to listen to them in heavy rotation. His tone was off the hook, sat in and cut through the mix so perfectly.

Bruce Thomas of Elvis Costello had a great tone.

And Geddy.

Eddie Jackson is the bassist for Queensryche

My Three:
Eddie Jackson
John Wetton (Asia)
Tony Franklin

 

[tangentmusic]

Chris Squire's "Close to the Edge" LP sound
Geddy's tone from "Farewell"
The Ox's "Live at Leeds" bombast

 

[oren]

Jack Casady
Rocco Prestia
Buster Williams (on upright)

 

[Peace Cee]

J P Jones (Ramble On)
Flea (Aeroplane)
L Johnson (Strawberry Letter 23)

 

[dukeorock]

Some good ones!

JJ Brunell
John Wetton (pre Asia)
The guy from the early Joe Jackson records...shoot...his name escapes me
Tommy Stinson
Phil Lynott was a great call
Paul McCartney, of course

For upright
Ron Carter
Milt Hinton
Marshall Lytle

 

[sabre79]

Dave Hope
Mike Rutherford
Tony Levin

 

[TRob1293]

Geddy Lee
Geezer Butler
Tony Franklin

 

[BrandonBass]

tetsu ogawa
tim commerford
ben kenney

 

[Elrend]

Colin Greenwood
Billy Cox
Chris Wood

 

[Funky Ghost]

John Taylor -- The first 3 Duran Duran albums were Bass tone nirvana for me.

Willie Weeks -- I've always dug his tone .. his work on a Wynonna Judd song called Chain Reaction slays me.

James Jamerson

Shout out to the Upright -- Charles Mingus kills.

 

[lowendfriend]

Jack Bruce
Lee Sklar
Duck Dunn

 

[CTC564]

@ dukeorock

Graham Maby was JJ original bassist

Good call...too often overlooked IMHO