The Quest for the Ultimate Bass Tone

[Speed King]

To me the ultimate bass tone is illusive, there are so many great bass tones. "Freewill" from Rush comes to mind. It's almost like all the great bass tones need to be segregated by the make and model of bass they're played on. For instance, In my opinion, the finest Precision Bass tone would be "Budgie" In the Grip of the Tyre Fitter's Hand, give it a listen sometime and you tell me if this isn't the finest P-Bass tone ever. The finest Rickenbacker tone might be Chris Squire's bass work on Roundabout, or the above mentioned Rush "Freewill" or really any of the earlier Rush songs. Great Thunderbird tone would be Wishbone Ash.

 

[Speed King]

I probably should mention that I'm playing a Rickenbacker 4003 through a Line 6 Helix.

 

[SiphonOfDestruction]

I'm a self-taught drummer, so I know absolutely, totally nothing about bass LOL. BUT, I have a good ear for music..

Are you a fan of The Ox? He'd have to be my all-time favorite bassist, his playing is monstrous. Any Who songs where he stands out to you?

 

[Speed King]

It's funny, I've never heard that nickname for John Entwhistle. But yeah, Mr. Entwhistle was a monster bassist. I like his work on a Thunderbird bass, it's as good or better than Martin Turner's bass tone. (Wishbone Ash)

Anything that stands out? Pretty much every song on Who's Next. Boris the Spider is interesting.

 

[SiphonOfDestruction]

Yeah, featuring him on lead vocals. He almost sounds like Syd Barrett.

He is called The Ox because of his constitution, and the fact that he could eat, drink, drug, and keep going seemingly without stopping. Also "Thunderfingers" because of how loud he played.

 

[Speed King]

I like that Entwhistle used many different basses throughout his career with the Who, he had guitar and bass collection that would rival Rick Neilson.

 

[Oldhippie]

Each finger on Entwisles left hand had its own brain. As far as bass tones go I love them all. Mel Schacker’s dirty sound on the early GFR is my favorite. Technically Entwistle is the master. The last few years I’ve been more attention to Paul McCartney and he was fantastic also. Dusty Hill’s simplicity is mesmerizing. One note on the beats with very few runs. I could go on and on but I’m done.

 

[Speed King]

What's interesting about Paul McCartney is that when he switched to a Rickenbacker, he never used the bridge pickup, most Rick players use the bridge pickup, Geddy, Chris, both Rogers, Lemmy, Phil,...me

 

[Oldhippie]

What's interesting about Paul McCartney is that when he switched to a Rickenbacker, he never used the bridge pickup, most Rick players use the bridge pickup, Geddy, Chris, both Rogers, Lemmy, Phil,...me

Never new that. I’ll have to dig deeper into that.

 

[Speed King]

I'm going strictly by my ears, not by anything I've read.

 

[Lynch]

It's funny, I've never heard that nickname for John Entwhistle.

really? Seems to me he had that nickname forever. Not sure where it came from, but I remember this from my childhood (I think).

Anything that stands out? Pretty much every song on Who's Next. Boris the Spider is interesting.

Not sure if it really stood out, but one of their tracks that I love the most with his bass playing would be The Real Me

There used to be some really good live versions out on YT, but I can't find one in particular, so I'll just link the studio cut.