How To Sound Like Your Favourite Bassists! (8 Bass Tones, Two Ways Each — What To Actually Buy)

Geddy Lee (Rush)

Bright, wiry and mid-forward. The grind comes from the preamp, not a pedal — and from a flicking right hand that hits like a pick without using one.

Listen to: Tom Sawyer · YYZ · La Villa Strangiato

The budget build. Start with the Mooer MBJ410 — the only true J/J-configured bass we carry, and that pickup layout is where the wiry bite comes from. Put the Tech 21 YYZ Geddy Lee Signature SansAmp in front of it, which is his own signature preamp pedal. Finish with D'Addario EXL170 roundwounds in .045–.100.

The best match. Move to the Yamaha BB735A, a P/J with a switchable active/passive preamp, so you can have the bridge bite with or without a boost behind it. Then the Tech 21 SansAmp RBI — the rack preamp he actually toured with for over a decade. And the Darkglass Element for cabinet simulation, which replaces the amp entirely.

In short: He hasn't used a bass cab on stage since 1996. Put the money in the preamp.

Go deeper: Deep Dive: Geddy Lee's Rush Bass Rig Through The Years · Going Ampless: How To Play Your Bass Live Without Amplifiers.

Sir Paul McCartney (The Beatles)

Round, thumpy and melodic. Short scale and flatwound strings give every note a clean start and a fast stop. That decay is the sound — more than the bass is.

Listen to: Come Together · Rain · Paperback Writer

The budget build. A Yamaha TRBX174, set to the split-coil pickup with the tone rolled back. Then the thing that does most of the work: La Bella 760FHB2 Beatle Bass Flatwounds — a set literally named for the instrument. Add the Tech 21 SansAmp Character Plus "Mop Top Liverpool" for the British, Vox-voiced side of it.

Roundwound versus flatwound. The smooth outer wrap of a flatwound is why it sounds round and stops fast.

The best match. The Gibson SG Standard Bass at 30.5 inches — the only short-scale bass we sell, and short scale is the mechanism behind that fast, clean decay. String it with La Bella 750N Black Nylon Tapewounds, the Abbey Road and rooftop string. Then the Tech 21 SansAmp Para Driver DI V2, so you can go straight to the desk the way those records were made.

In short: Change your strings before you change your bass.

Frank Bello (Anthrax)

Fingers, not a pick — three of them. A P/J gives weight plus the upper-mid bite that keeps the line audible, and a SansAmp drive keeps it there under a wall of downstroked guitars.

Listen to: Caught In A Mosh · Indians · Antisocial

The budget build. A Yamaha BB234, passive P/J. The Tech 21 Frank Bello Street Driver 48, his signature pedal. D'Addario EXL160 in .050–.105.

The best match. Step up to the Yamaha BB735A for the active/passive switch, which is closer to how he's set up. Keep the Tech 21 Frank Bello Street Driver 48 — it's the same pedal, because it was already the right answer and there's nothing to upgrade to. Then add the Jackson Audio Blossom, an optical compressor, to even out a hard three-finger attack.

In short: The pedal has his name on it, and it's in both builds because it doesn't need replacing.

Cliff Burton (Metallica)

Bass played like a lead guitar. A bright bridge pickup feeds a wah's boost stage into a tube head, and a fuzz scoops the mids out afterwards — removing the exact band that makes an instrument read as "bass."

Listen to: (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth · For Whom The Bell Tolls · Orion

The budget build. An Epiphone Thunderbird 60s — mahogany, two ProBucker Bass humbuckers, and a bridge pickup bright enough to feed a fuzz properly. The EHX Op-amp Big Muff Pi, which is a guitar Muff rather than a bass Muff, and that's the point: guitar circuits roll off the low end and push the upper mids, which is how you get a bass to stop sounding like one. Then the Nobels ODR-1 with Bass Cut, doing the clean boost half of the sound.

The best match. A Gibson Non-Reverse Thunderbird for the instrument. Add a Vox V847 Wah — the boost stage everyone forgets, and the piece doing more work than people credit. Then a Mesa/Boogie Bass 800D, a tube preamp head descended from the amp he actually used. Keep the Big Muff from the budget build in the chain.

In short: The fuzz gets the credit. The wah's boost stage does the work.

Go deeper: Metallica's Ride The Lightning Era Live Gear · All You Need To Know: Mesa/Boogie Bass 800D.

Les Claypool (Primus)

Snap, rattle and harmonics. Ultra-light strings on a short-ish scale under a relaxed three-finger hand. In his own words: "I don't play that hard — it's very much finesse-y."

Listen to: Tommy The Cat · My Name Is Mud · Jerry Was A Race Car Driver

The budget build. A Yamaha TRBX174 P/J. D'Addario EXL170 in .045–.100 — and go as light as you can stand, because low tension is what lets the strings snap and throw harmonics under a light touch. Then an EHX Micro Q-Tron envelope filter.

The best match. The Yamaha BB735A with its active/passive switch and three-band EQ. Then the Darkglass Microtubes X Ultra, which distorts a selected frequency band rather than the whole signal — that selectivity is much closer to how his sound is built than a straight overdrive. Add an EHX Nano POG for polyphonic octave.

In short: Buy the strings first. The pedals are a distant fifth.

Mike Dirnt (Green Day)

One fat split-coil holding a three-piece together. Clean enough up top that you hear the pick click, with the grit blended in at the amp — he doesn't use pedals.

Listen to: Longview · Basket Case · Holiday

The budget build. A Yamaha TRBX174, using the split-coil and rolling the J pickup off — one focused voice, no blend, no complication. An EHX Nano Battalion for MOSFET drive and a three-band EQ, which fakes the amp-side grit convincingly. Then D'Addario EXL160 and Dunlop .60 picks — he's gone thinner over the years, not thicker, and a thin pick is a lot of where that click comes from.

The best match. A Yamaha BB434 — Alnico V split-coil P plus a J, passive, which is the closest passive P voice we sell. Then put the money in the amp: an Orange Little Bass Thing 500-watt head into an Orange OBC112 1×12 cab.

In short: The only rig on this list where the money goes into the amp, not the board.

Adam "Nolly" Getgood

Distortion up top, clean fundamental underneath. That split is the entire method — it's why the bass stays audible under 8-string guitars instead of disappearing beneath everything.

Listen to: Icarus Lives! · Scarlet · Blood Eagle

The budget build. A Yamaha BB235, a passive P/J five-string. The Darkglass Alpha Omicron — dual-mode distortion with a blend control, and the blend is the whole reason it's here. Then D'Addario EXL170-5 in .045–.130.

The best match. The Yamaha BB735A five-string with active/passive switching. Then the Darkglass ADAM, his signature pedal, which stores three complete footswitch presets — each one holding its own compression, drive, cabinet IR and EQ. One preset for clean parts, one for driven parts, one for solos. Add the Darkglass Hyper Luminal compressor at the front of the chain.

In short: Buy a drive with a blend knob. That knob is the technique.

Go deeper: You've Been Shaping Your Bass Tone Wrong: How the Pros Build Bass Sound.

Dick Lövgren (Meshuggah)

Warm, vintage-voiced saturation sitting under the guitars — not modern scooped high gain. It's a pick, and the metallic clank is the part that actually gets through.

Listen to: Bleed · Demiurge · Clockworks

The budget build. A Yamaha TRBX305 five-string, active. An EHX Nano Battalion preamp and overdrive with a balanced output. D'Addario EXL165-5 in .045–.135.

The best match. A Yamaha TRBX605FM five-string with Alnico V pickups and active/passive switching. Then the Darkglass Vintage Deluxe V3 — his actual pedal, and the reason this build works. Finish with the Darkglass Anagram, which handles amp modelling, IR loading and presets in one box; that's the job his rig does live, without a bass cab on stage.

In short: He's on a vintage-voiced pedal, not the most aggressive one on the wall.

Go deeper: Darkglass Anagram: The Ultimate Multi-Effects for Bassists?.

The Yamaha Bass Guitars That Cover It All!

You'll have noticed the Yamaha BB735A appears in four of these builds, and the TRBX174 in three.

It's a P/J with a switchable active/passive preamp, which makes it genuinely the closest thing we sell to four quite different players — and the TRBX174 is the most flexible passive P/J at the entry end. We'd rather repeat an instrument that honestly fits than invent four different answers to look thorough.

New to bass? Start with our beginner guide to choosing the right bass guitar, or see four bass guitars you should totally check out.