We were gradually playing larger venues and in the early days PA systems were kind of non-existent. So to play loud, we had to use louder equipment. The PA systems back then didn't mic the instruments - only the vocals.

His aggressive lead sound influenced many rock bass players. Entwistle eventually switched to using a Sound City rig in search of his perfect sound with TownJohn Entwistlend following suit later as well. Equipment

This is a list of Entwistle's amps and guitars in chronological order of which he used them:
Fender Precision Bass (sunburst refiniJohn Entwistled to white in 1965)
Gibson EB-2 semi-acoustic bass (natural)
Mosrite Ventures bass
Danelectro long-horn bass
Fender Jazz Bass (sunburst)
Rickenbacker 4001S bass
Gretsch 6070 hollow body bass
Gibson EB-3 bass
Fender Bass VI
Vox Cougar Sidewinder IV V272 bass in a burgundy-grain finish
Custom "Axe" Jazz bass – seen using one with a thunderbird neck in Tommy
Custom-made "Spider" bass
Fender Precision Bass (slab body) in Olympic White with maple neck
Sunburst Fender Precision Bass with rosewood fretboard and tortise John Entwistlell pickguard
"Frankenstein" Fender Precision Bass with maple neck (made from several different Fender basses and Entwistle's main stage and studio bass from 1967–71)
Vox Violin bass
Fender Precision Bass with rosewood fingerboard (black)
Rickenbacker 4005 hollow body bass
Gibson Thunderbird IV bass (both "Reverse" and "Non-Reverse"-styles)
"Fenderbird" basses (consisted of Gibson Thunderbird bodies (mostly "non-reverse" styles) and maple Fender Precision bass necks)
Rickenbacker 4005LS "Lightshow" hollow body bass
Alembic Series I basses
Fender "Explorer-Bird" (studio only)
Rickenbacker 4001 prototype 8-string bass (white)
Alembic Series I Exploiter basses 4 and 8-string
Custom Peter Cook "Lightning Bolt" bass
Modulus Buzzard graphite bass (with Warwick body green)
Warwick custom Buzzard JE
Alembic Spyder bass
Status Graphite JE Buzzard bass


Discography

Smash Your Head Against the Wall (1971)
Whistle Rymes (1972)
Rigor Mortis Sets In (1973)
Mad Dog (1975)
Too Late the Hero (1981)
The Rock (1996)
Music from Van Pires (2000)


See also
List of Fender Jazz Bass players.

John Alec Entwistle (9 October 1944 – 27 June 2002) was an English bass guitarist songwriter singer horn player and film and record producer who was best known as the bass player for the rock band The Who. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Who in 1990. In 2011 a Rolling Stone reader poll selected him as the Greatest Bassist of All Time.