@@cmvb Darkglass was founded in 2009, Pantera were together until 2003? Something like that. So It wouldn't be possible for Rex to record the bass with a Darkglass B3k. I'm not the right person to tell you exactly what gear he used, but I can assure you, it wasn't a darkglass pedal. Here: www.guitarworld.com/features/interview-former-pantera-and-down-bassist-rex-brown-talks-gear-influences-and-kill-devil-hill en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Brown#Effects
@@mitchandopolis2665 I think what he means to say is that Rex’s contribution to the heaviness of Pantera is half compared to the contributions of the other three.
Rex is very solid, and in the pocket. He's always been one of my top favorite bass players. You just cannot beat the sound of a Spector. Nothing else comes even close.
Anyone who thinks Rex's bass was buried in the mix is tone deaf! There's a ton of Pantera songs where, especially on the leads, where there is no rhythm guitar only Rex. Rex was just as audible as Dime.
@@YungTrinidad407 floods, ill cast a shadow, trendkill, it makes them disappear, and pretty much every solo of dimes, rex was either letting loose or holding that groove
MrKredski I always knew he was incredible, and he was always one of my favorites- But even when the greatest bassists are isolated, you can hear little imperfections, which I love- but Rex is absolute PERFECTION. I never knew he was in a jazz band, but that doesn't surprise me :)
BrooklynPerson30000 don't forget that this would have been done to a click, so the timing was always going to be good. Best place to hear someone's timing is live.
Ianthebassist well, click is for basic tempo- you can tell when someone's attack is solid and natural, and beyond just keeping with a click. plus i bet that if they used a click, only Vinnie could hear it, and everyone else played to Vinnie
I didn't say it was complicated. Obviously you can give an example of Les Claypool, Stanley Clarke or Geddy Lee to show what is complicated, but what for? I only said Rex had great timing.
Dudes, you're totally wrong when saying "this bass tone is buried in the mix". If you ever sit and mix a record of a band that employs high gain guitar sound, you will hear what I mean. Let's put it like this - when you hear those riffing in "I'm broken" record, HALF of that percieved sound is a sound of the bass. There's a perfect mutual timing between guitar players + well-thought EQing = blend. So it's never buried, it's always there.
Razvan Gabor It is a lil bit more quiet, because damn, Dimebag plays the solo! Its about it, not about hearing the bassline :) And Its not that bass is down there in the mix, its the same level all the time, but its just the guitar beeing louder, thats why you think that bass is more quiet.
Plus if you even listen to metal, you will surely notice that bass in Pantera's mixes is much louder that in every other band.Also, Dimebag had really mid-scooped tone, and if you listen to the whole mix you will hear that midrange is actually filled with bass tone all the way. Also, the recepie for a good mix is not every instrument sounding great solo, but it needs to sound great in the mix.
Emkarcinos Also on "new level" song the bass is really really quiet.Can barely hear it when Dimebag does the solo.Maybe my headphones are bad,but you can't say that the bass in Pantera is louder than in every other band.Take as example Cannibal Corpse and Lamb Of God.
Just spend quite some time listening to isolated bass tracks, and within 5 secs of listening to this fellow, it's obvious he's on a different level compared to most metal bass-players. Tasty vibrato, groovy playing, raw tone and really tight playing. Totally underrated.
This is because the bass sound helps to sustain the guitar sound, increasing the bass presence. Just listen to Pantera's songs without the bass, the guitar will seem empty.@@sebg2086
I've been listening to Pantera for over 25 years and they only get better with age. I'm in my 50's now and their music really puts to shame all the others that have come along since their inception. The only other band that I put before Pantera is TooL.
texanguitar Says you and maybe a few others who think they're too cool to put a less heavy band ahead of a heavier band in terms of greatness. Heavy is a subjective term and it's all about what the music means to the listener, not who plays faster, has more solos, and is better to listen to while drinking beer and playing grabass with your buds. Tool is much heavier in terms of lyrics and general musical content than Pantera in my eyes. Tool is heavy music that makes the listener think, Pantera is just badass pure metal that makes the listener want to bang their head and punch people in the face. Damn you for making me say anything negative about Pantera!
Jim Garrison Well, at the end of the day it's all music and we love it. Mostly, everyone likes different stuff. Pantera is preferable to me over Tool. And it shouldn't be a discredit to Tool, just a preference. So I say, rock on Jim. Pantera, Tool n whatevs.
rex brown is not only underrated as a bassist but also as a musician, i mean he's the guy who emulates walking bass lines under dime's solos, in metal! most bass players should strive to be like him.
Man the musicianship in Pantera is truly next level. Rex played tuba in the marching band and had a full ride scholarship to go to music college but chose the rock life instead (thankfully). All 4 members are such gods!!!!
Rex is the perfect example of an excellent bassist being overshadowed by the (also excellent) guitar player. I never hear about this dude. His timing is so good-that's one of the first and most important things I look at in a bass player. And he's always playing something awesome under Dime's solo. Did I mention a fucking sick tone.
So cool! Definite bi-amp action going on here. And he is ASSAULTING those strings. It's awesome that he keeps such good timing and consistency with such an aggressive attack, especially with all the bends. One of the bass players that made me certain ages ago I needed a Spector. One of my favorite things about listening to Pantera records are the guitar solos - not for the guitar part, but to hear that nasty growling bass rolling along underneath the solo. I'll always love that they didn't overdub rhythm guitars underneath their solos, makes it all the more enjoyable to hear both of them killing it in their own way!
It sounds like they have a cleaner sound and one that is super ratted out and it is blended. Not like 2 performances, like a separate bus for the distortion and one for the cleaner sound. Sounds badass.
Bi-amping. One of the best examples of this is dUg Pinnick from Kings X. Bass amp for the low end and an overdriven guitar amp for the top end. Pinnick put out a pedal that emulates this-I have and use it. KILLER sounds.
Panthers was one of the metal bands of that era whose recordings did not bury the bass lines. Rex was always so great. His bass seems like a weapon of war. 🔥
Honestly. This is the tone I've been praising for years. You can hear it well on the later albums. So early 2000's I got myself a Tech 21 VT bass overdrive pedal to get this tone. There wasn't much hype back then. Funny to see that Darkglass is getting so much attention now even though Rex was doing this 20 years ago.
That bass has got an awesome, snarling and brutal tone !! Bassists are ALWAYS overlooked in metal bands.....its not all about non stop guitar wanking.....its the RYTHTM SECTION that CRUSHES EVERYTHING!! This is a VULGAR DISPLAY OF BASS POWER !!
Rex was the fucking glue in Pantera... He somehow managed to bring everything together and made Vin and Dime sound even better...he is pretty damn cool in my eyes.
It really pisses me off how things ended for Pantera, from the internal feuds, Phil becoming a diva, Rex writing terrible and cruel things about Vinnie on his book, to the killing of Dime... ugh, they were such an amazing band.
I agree with some of the comments on here that he should have really been higher in the mix, he seems to get buried in some of their tracks.. Great player. Love the tone he gets.
@metroidmaniac67 same here brah! I think bass players alot of the time get the blunt end of hype. It's always about guitarists, but bass provides rhythm and notes to guide the guitar. This is why I play bass, because the guitarists are nothing without us and the drummers i.e the most overlooked members of a band.
This guy is so underrated, its really easy to bag on him because pantera did make some questionable music choices ( vulgar display of power) but this guy has some of the sickest walking backing solo bassline grooves ive ever heard. He puts the mad groove in any song he plays in
Man, if anything Vulgar was one of Pantera's finest records. I used to be a huge fan of them back in the day, but I've moved onto other stuff... but Vulgar is an album I'll sometimes put on for old times sake, almost every track is a classic.
+Scott Lewis In my opinion, Vuglar Display of Power is not that heavy. The album does have a few heavy songs, but the rest of them is weak in my opinion.
