Best Amp Head for Mowtown? - Page 3

braud357 · #41 01-13-2013, 01:01 PM

There is a video out there showing JJ playing live with Marvin Gaye. He is playing through a Fender Dual Showman Reverb with a 2-15" cabinet - and, yes - it sounds like James Jamerson. I think that he could get his "sound" using most anything !

**Freddels** · #42 01-13-2013, 01:07 PM

A '62 P bass? Just put on flats and just about any amp will get you there (or at least pretty close).

Wally Malone · #43 01-13-2013, 01:12 PM

I recently got a Roland V-Bass and GK3B pickup and was extremely happy with the patch "OLDMOWTOWN". Also the patch "VPB B15" nails the old P Bass sound.

Wally

jnewmark · #44 01-13-2013, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by braud357

There is a video out there showing JJ playing live with Marvin Gaye. He is playing through a Fender Dual Showman Reverb with a 2-15" cabinet - and, yes - it sounds like James Jamerson. I think that he could get his "sound" using most anything !

There is also a photo of him in the LA studio with a B15N behind him, in an isolation booth. Just sayin...

lowphatbass · #45 01-13-2013, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by braud357

There is a video out there showing JJ playing live with Marvin Gaye. He is playing through a Fender Dual Showman Reverb with a 2-15" cabinet - and, yes - it sounds like James Jamerson. I think that he could get his "sound" using most anything !

I don't know if this is a Dual Showman or not...but here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowphatbass

It doesn't always have to be an Ampeg but it helps that there's tubes and 15's.
http://r5---sn-jvhj5nu-a5ml.c.youtub...s_redirect=yes

Basstreble · #46 01-13-2013, 03:38 PM

How does everyone feel about the ampeg SVT CL or the Fender bassman 100t?

vin*tone · #47 01-13-2013, 04:06 PM

Just to throw another spanner in the B15 works...

The B15 will only nail the Jamerson tone at a limited volume. If your band are playing at a decent level, the B15 will not give you the Jamerson tone. It will give you the Nate Mendel tone. Which is basically why Jamerson bought a Kustom.

Quote:

Originally Posted by spacebassed

Anytime Jamerson or the Motown sound comes up someone mentions the Ampeg B15, then someone invariably chimes in saying "NO! Jamerson didn't use a B15, he only used the custom tube DI built for Studio A" - it's been discussed ad nauseum. The truth is he used both. While it's true that most of the recordings were done with the tube DI, on the early Motown stuff Jamerson did use a B15. He also used one outside of the studio quite a bit.

This thread is about how the OP could get a tone similar to the Motown sound. You can't deny that a B15 nails that sound (Stax used a B15 too). I supposed he could go to the snakepit under cover of night and try to make it home with the custom tube DI that Jamerson used... or he could just spend $1k and buy a B15 - which do you think would be easier.

...and if you're set on using the Genz Benz cab (you didn't mention the speaker configuration) there are several options. Tubes and 15's are a good place to start. There are several old Ampeg heads that would get you in the ballpark, but IMHO nothing sounds quite as good as the B15 with its 6sl7's, the SVT/V4b get close, but are a little more aggressive sounding to me. The Catalinbread SFT pedal would also be something to look into.

jnewmark · #48 01-13-2013, 04:11 PM

Also, according to Standing In The Shadows of Motown book, his first recordings were done on upright bass ( Can I get A Witness ). No info on how they recorded it. Also was mentioned, at first, the recordings were done live with all kinds of bleedover, mistakes ,and bad intonation between guitars !

vin*tone · #49 01-13-2013, 04:43 PM

Getting that tone is more challenging than a lot of people realise. I find that the key is in taming the extreme highs and lows of your tone. Old school cabs by nature do this extremely well. The brand of amp you choose has little to do with it. eg: I found you could get a great old school tone with a P with flats thru a GK MB112 by cranking high + low mid knobs and dialing out treble and bass. (Anyone out there with an MB112 give it a go it's sweet!). That's GK the king of clean and NON-tube like tones.

@ the OP: The bass, strings, cabs, EQ and playing style will have more impact than your choice of amp. That said - I'd probably be tempted to pick up an SVT 7 in your shoes.

MOSCOWBASS · #50 01-13-2013, 04:46 PM

Labella flats and a P bass are the key. The closest i've got is a streamliner with a Barefaced Compact. . .I think the 15 has a benefit in getting to the sound.

mccartneyman · #51 01-13-2013, 04:55 PM

There is no reason you can't get a Motown sound out of any amp if you know how to set EQ and dampen the bass strings properly. I've gotten it with every amp I've owned since 1966, from a chickenhead-knob Bassman taken out of a Bassman 410 combo driving 2 JBL D140s, a Bassman 50 head with 15s, a Kustom 200 with 2 15s, Standel combo with 2 15s to my current setups, which are a Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 with 2 112 cabs or a TC Electronic BG250 combo with 115. Just heard a Motown cover band last week with a guy using a Marcus Miller Jazz and a GK 115 combo.

**Freddels** · #52 01-13-2013, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Basstreble

How does everyone feel about the ampeg SVT CL or the Fender bassman 100t?

I like them. I've never played the 100T but everything I've heard about it and from vids, it sounds good.

**mjac28** · #53 01-13-2013, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Jamerson once said that people ask him what he used and he told them, but they were missing the point. I'll let you all figure out what the point is on your own...

+1 smartest answer of them all thank you.

spacebassed · #54 01-13-2013, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jnewmark

Also, according to Standing In The Shadows of Motown book, his first recordings were done on upright bass ( Can I get A Witness ). No info on how they recorded it. Also was mentioned, at first, the recordings were done live with all kinds of bleedover, mistakes ,and bad intonation between guitars !

Jamerson definitely used an upright on the earliest Motown recordings. I believe I read somewhere that some Motown recordings actually had two bass tracks, an upright and a P-bass, but don't hold me to that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vin*tone

Just to throw another spanner in the B15 works...

The B15 will only nail the Jamerson tone at a limited volume. If your band are playing at a decent level, the B15 will not give you the Jamerson tone. It will give you the Nate Mendel tone. Which is basically why Jamerson bought a Kustom.

While it's true that a B15 won't get you the volume of an SVT, you might be surprised at what you can get out of one through a larger cabinet. There are also ways to get more out of a B15 - this is currently being discussed in the Portaflex club. The gigs Jamerson used his B15 on were fairly low volume jazz type situations (he also used one on his LA sessions as jnewmark mentioned).

OP, The Ampeg SVT Classic would be a great choice to get that tone, I can't comment on the Fender Bassman 100t as I've never used one, but I know a lot of folks around here like them. You already have a the key ingredient, the P-bass with flats (mellow thumpy flats like Labellas are best).

faulknersj · #55 01-13-2013, 05:28 PM

Flats, and a foam mute on a preferably passive Fender or Fender type bass. The rest is knowledge and fingers. < if you have this, any good amp will do.

Russell L · #56 01-13-2013, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Jamerson once said that people ask him what he used and he told them, but they were missing the point. I'll let you all figure out what the point is on your own...

My opinion is that it's in the player, mostly---your fingers and hands, expression, etc. Personally, I'm doing fine playing Motown on a Markbass rig with an '01 Jazz Bass, or any rig for that matter. And it happens even if the eq is set neutral. It's all about how I play and where on the strings for that sound. And the pickup selection and blend.

**mjac28** · #57 01-13-2013, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russell L

My opinion is that it's in the player, mostly---your fingers and hands, expression, etc. Personally, I'm doing fine playing Motown on a Markbass rig with an '01 Jazz Bass, or any rig for that matter. And it happens even if the eq is set neutral. It's all about how I play and where on the strings for that sound. And the pickup selection and blend.

But what kind of shoes were you wearing? I read somewhere Jamerson had a preference for soft loafers.

**johndough247** · #58 01-13-2013, 06:14 PM

Personally, I think all y'all need to eat some funky pigs' feet, light a cigar and calm down...that's the big secret right there...(besides using the appropriate technique for your bass and a lil' common sense of course

)

Russell L · #59 01-13-2013, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johndough247

Personally, I think all y'all need to eat some funky pigs' feet, light a cigar and calm down...that's the big secret right there...(besides using the appropriate technique for your bass and a lil' common sense of course

)

I'll go for the cigar part

:Oh yes! Never liked pigs feet, but I love grits.

JimmyM · #60 01-13-2013, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seang15

Is it that, it doesn't matter the equipment you use? It matters what comes out of your fingers, heart and mind?

Like it doesn't matter you use Ampeg, Jimmy?

This is not meant to be a slam on Ampeg by any means, but if all Ampeg went away tomorrow and all I had to use was solid state amps I don't like, I would be fine and work just as much as I always have and sound pretty much like I always do. I use Ampeg because it idealizes for me what I like to hear in bass tone and makes it easy for me to cop a sound. But I'm driving the bus and the amp just sits there and waits for me to play something