Jaco's Tone

[jacohead]

I know many people say that his tone was all in the hands, but I get the feeling that if anyone had the chance to play the "bass of doom," they may get the tone as well, maybe not all the time, but pretty close to it at least. so my question is, what was it about jacos bass that made it so growly and nasal. it has to be something. pickups maybe? has anyone ever gotten that tone? how can i get it. thanks

[Grind It Out]

i was able to get pretty close to it in guitar center one day

they had a fretless fender jazz bass w/ roundwound strings on it and i plugged into an ampeg BA115 combo

i set the amps controls with the midrange selecter @ the middle position, Bass @ 3:00, Mid somewhere around 4-5:00, and treble @ about 1:00

i turned all the controls on the bass all the way up, then backed off the neck pickup until i got what i thought was pretty darn close to that nasaly growly tone

i definitely think the roundwound strings play a huge part in that sound, as well as the mostly bridge pickup sound (the neck one wasnt dialed all the way out...it was still giving me something)...i watched a video of him and saw him do this to his controls when he plugged in

definitely need a good bit of mids to get that sound too...10" speakers may be better suited to jaco's tone, but, the 15" sounded good as well

if that helps, awesome, if not...well...it worked for me

[Lowtonejoe]

Originally Posted by jacohead

I know many people say that his tone was all in the hands, but I get the feeling that if anyone had the chance to play the "bass of doom," they may get the tone as well, maybe not all the time, but pretty close to it at least. so my question is, what was it about jacos bass that made it so growly and nasal. it has to be something. pickups maybe? has anyone ever gotten that tone? how can i get it. thanks

Nah,

fingers only control your tone, whether it be turning a knob or plucking a string. Learn to use your fingers to control the tones you can get out of your equipment.

Try using your back (bridge) pickup only and roll the treble off until it sounds right. Also pluck the string closer to the bridge.

Jaco played a fretless so unless you are too your tone wont be exact but it will still sound good. I love the sound of my back pickup.



Joe.

[slombovia]

I think part of it was the Petit's Polypoxy he put on the fingerboard. I used the exact same stuff and though quite hard, it still had a softness that made the growl more like Jaco's.

[Dave Bassincus]

Dont forget the Acoustic amps through a folded 18" cab - this makes a huge difference and is commonly overlooked.

[Ripper]

the main things, i think, were the epoxied fingerboard and his technique of playing over the bridge pup... that along with the amps and cab, should work

[lowphatbass]

I think his style of playing is a big part of his sound. It's less perceived now because so many players have absorbed aspects of his style, either directly of through osmosis.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by Dave Bassincus

Dont forget the Acoustic amps through a folded 18" cab - this makes a huge difference and is commonly overlooked.

That's because in interviews, Jaco said how in the studio, he always plugged straight into the desk with no Amp or Effects - and got his best tone - e.g on the Joni Mitchell albums!

[Lowtonejoe]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

That's because in interviews, Jaco said how in the studio, he always plugged straight into the desk with no Amp or Effects - and got his best tone - e.g on the Joni Mitchell albums!

I will have to re-listen to the JM albums but a definite +1 to the rest!



Joe.

[Richard Lindsey]

It still strikes me as strange when people believe, as so many seem to do, that Jaco only really had one tone--namely the stereotypical playing directly over a soloed bridge PU. The fact is, he had a number of tones, as you can tell if you really listen to what he did. And if you ever saw him play for any extended period, whether live or on video, you can see that he frequently moved his hands around and used different attacks to get different sounds. My goodness, that was one of the very things that made him great--that he was able to wring a greater variety of sounds out of the instrument than nearly anybody before him. And that is definitely down to his hands. You can only work with what your instrument is capable of giving you, but some players can use their hands to take advantage of more of the possibilities provided by the instrument. You can copy his gear all you want, but if you can't also emulate at least some of his touch, you won't sound much like him.

[Bruce Lindfield]

I'm getting "Deja Vu" now!!

[Richard Lindsey]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

I'm getting "Deja Vu" now!!

As Yogi Berra said, deja vu all over again.

[beggar98]

In the "Modern Electric Bass" video, he talks briefly about how he prefers the tone when he plays over the neck PU, but can play faster and more articulated closer to the bridge.

[puff father]

Tone can be emulated, but intonation (on a fretless bass), time and just playing clean..., Jaco was just..., wow.

[Red Wonder]

Originally Posted by Richard Lindsey

And that is definitely down to his hands. You can only work with what your instrument is capable of giving you, but some players can use their hands to take advantage of more of the possibilities provided by the instrument. You can copy his gear all you want, but if you can't also emulate at least some of his touch, you won't sound much like him.

+1

Jaco was all about the touch. He was the personification of precision and he possessed a myriad of tones.

[Kalyptic]

I have a feeling jacos tone is beacause of all the stuff he did to his bass. Like removing the frets, the wood filler and gloss and such give him a really unique tone, which i dont think is going to be easy to replicate.

[cowsgomoo]

no-one will ever sound exactly like Jaco because, like all of us, he was an individual... and why should anyone want to sound exactly like him?? it's a lot easier to sound like yourself

anyway, there are loads of different factors such as epoxy resin board, right hand position, his amplifier/lack of amplifier, etc... but all these are secondary to this: get a Jazz bass, roll off some of the neck pickup and play hard-ish near the bridge

for a bit of fun i've recorded my own (very) low budget Jaco tone impersonation on a fretted Jazz, DI'd with a bit of compression... no-one would mistake my fumblings for the great man himself but tonally you can hear the 'Jaco burble' that those pickup settings get you:

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~cows/jacoburble.mp3

[DocBop]

Jaco's hands like most players are the key to his sound. Especilly when you think most of the recording we hear of these players they were running direct.

I have been lucky to have spent many years in and around the music business and have heard great players play on gear that wasn't there normal setup, including my own guitars. It's amazing how great player can get good sound out of about anything. It is mainly your hands that get the tone.

[gnr_her]

Originally Posted by cowsgomoo

get a Jazz bass, roll off some of the neck pickup and play hard-ish near the bridge

for a bit of fun i've recorded my own (very) low budget Jaco tone impersonation on a fretted Jazz, DI'd with a bit of compression... no-one would mistake my fumblings for the great man himself but tonally you can hear the 'Jaco burble' that those pickup settings get you:

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~cows/jacoburble.mp3

cool recording!

[jgroh]

i can get the Jaco like tone out of my Squire VM fretless. Just turn down the bass knob all the way and bingo. I love it.