Classic Bass Guitar Sounds

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Jeff White
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Post by Jeff White » Wed Mar 27, 2013 8:39 am

I am pretty stunned that those classic Carol Kaye bass tones are a P-Bass into a Super Reverb. I have both of those (my Super is a '77 that has been modified to pre-CBS specs) and intend on using them much more. I have always foamed/muted my basses and rolled back the treble on them for a much more classic sound.

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Post by drumsound » Wed Mar 27, 2013 3:53 pm

Grinder wrote:I always hear that James Jamerson never changed the strings on his P-bass, because he thought the electric instrument was kind of a joke compared to a double bass. Don't know if it's true or not, but it could be a starting point.

Other than that, I think, that arrangement and mixing of the rest of the elements is a major contributor to the type of sound you're looking for.

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I'm not sure if he never changed his electric strings, but I do know that James Jamerson (and the guitar players) were recorded direct and all three monitored through the same speaker.

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Post by dfuruta » Wed Mar 27, 2013 8:12 pm

james jamerson also had incredible right hand technique...those bass-lines are hard enough to play with multiple fingers (listen to "bernadette"!), let alone one (as he did).

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Post by drumsound » Wed Mar 27, 2013 10:58 pm

dfuruta wrote:james jamerson also had incredible right hand technique...those bass-lines are hard enough to play with multiple fingers (listen to "bernadette"!), let alone one (as he did).
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Post by roscoenyc » Thu Mar 28, 2013 6:22 am

Jeff White wrote:I am pretty stunned that those classic Carol Kaye bass tones are a P-Bass into a Super Reverb. I have both of those (my Super is a '77 that has been modified to pre-CBS specs) and intend on using them much more. I have always foamed/muted my basses and rolled back the treble on them for a much more classic sound.

Jeff
Whenever you put Bass into an older Fender amp. (Blonde/Brown/Black/Silver) try using the 2nd input on whichever channel. The 2nd input is padded down and will give you more range with the Bass.

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Jeff White
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Post by Jeff White » Thu Mar 28, 2013 12:01 pm

roscoenyc wrote:
Jeff White wrote:I am pretty stunned that those classic Carol Kaye bass tones are a P-Bass into a Super Reverb. I have both of those (my Super is a '77 that has been modified to pre-CBS specs) and intend on using them much more. I have always foamed/muted my basses and rolled back the treble on them for a much more classic sound.

Jeff
Whenever you put Bass into an older Fender amp. (Blonde/Brown/Black/Silver) try using the 2nd input on whichever channel. The 2nd input is padded down and will give you more range with the Bass.
You, sir, are my hero. I always assumed that the Bassman was the only Fender amp voiced for bass, and that I would run the risk of destroying a guitar amp by running low-end through it.

Thanks!

Jeff
I record, mix, and master in my Philly-based home studio, the Spacement. https://linktr.ee/ipressrecord

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Post by roscoenyc » Thu Mar 28, 2013 1:23 pm

You are welcome Jeff.
The second input thing even helps on a Bassman in the bass channel!

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Post by The Scum » Thu Mar 28, 2013 2:28 pm

I've heard the story that the original Bassman was a guitar amp design that got recast as a bass amp, because they decided they needed to market a special amp to match the original Pbass. "Voiced for bass" might mean that it had a 15" speaker.
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Post by biasvoltage » Sat Jun 22, 2013 10:27 pm

Flatwounds + B15 FTW

A lot of the really inventive Motown electric bass stuff that is commonly thought to be Jamerson is actually Bob Babbitt.

A lot of the really inventive Wrecking Crew electric bass stuff that is commonly thought to be Carol Kaye is really Joe Osborn.

The bass on that track sounds like Joe Osborn (who played the same 1960 Jazz Bass, with the same strings, on everything he did until the late seventies) with Bill Pitmann doubling it on a danelectro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCQx3R_V0p0

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Post by bparker12321 » Sun Jun 23, 2013 9:42 pm

that does sound more like him. especially with the story. That helps a lot. I might start pushing more people toward the j-bass we have in the studio!

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Post by losthighway » Mon Jun 24, 2013 7:11 am

I think between the amps and eqing for vinyl a lot of the old bass tones sound cool because they have a lot of mids, and not a lot of lows. Maybe I'm just projecting from what's been going on in a lot of my projects but it seems like they did a good job of not letting that cloud build up below 100hz. Plugged into a small guitar amp there probably wouldn't be any of that coming out in the first place.

Is this the right thread to bring up how amazing the bass tone is on the Beatles "Rain" single? Kind of a different sound than the wrecking crew stuff, way more sustain, but man.... best bass tone ever?

I remember in the Geoff Emerick book he was talking about trying the innovation with using a speaker as a mic on that song.

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Post by honkyjonk » Mon Jun 24, 2013 10:07 am

Yep, Rain and Paperback Writer I think were the white elephant speaker. RAD sound. Wow. I bet they had to roll some lows off though.
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Post by telepathy » Mon Jun 24, 2013 12:54 pm

the "Rain" bass is also compressed to hell. that's probably the EMI-modded Altec.

if we're throwing in righteous 60's bass examples, I'll put up "These Eyes" by the Guess Who. Incredible melodic sense, tone, and feel.
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Post by KennyLusk » Mon Jun 24, 2013 5:56 pm

losthighway wrote: I remember in the Geoff Emerick book he was talking about trying the innovation with using a speaker as a mic on that song.
A totally awesome read BTW for anyone here who hasn't read it yet.
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Post by Zacharia Matilda » Wed Jun 26, 2013 5:32 am

Ampeg Gemini is a great combo for basses. I have used the 1x12, but I bet the 1x15 sounds great too.
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