John Entwhistle Sound

[The Beast]

My school is doing the musical Tommy by The Who and I got picked to play bass. There's nothing i cant handle in the actual music, but i wanted to ask some of The Who fanatics here how to get as close to his tone and technique as possible so i can be authentic.

I'm playing on a Fender Active Jazz 5-String through an Ampeg SVT 3Pro and a 4x10 cab.

How would i put my settings?

How many fingers does he use? I usually use 3, and it looks to me from footage i've seen that he does too, but i aint sure.

Does he pound the strings for his tone or is that just low action?

Are his right hand fingers just near the fingerboard or actually on it?

etc, etc...

Thanks guys.

[ZeroSkaten]

As far as I know, he pounds them near the fingerboard. Just playing fingerstyle with really powerful strokes from high up.

I may be wrong, but thats what people have said to me.

Good luck!

[iamthebassman]

Clean low-end, distorted highs.

[Mel Monihan]

On his video he tells Arlen Roth that his sound is full volume, full treble.You might want to look at his video though, he uses a pick sometimes, and he does that tapping thing that he calls "playing like a typewriter" with his index, middle and ring fingers on the end of the fingerboard.He does this because he never liked slap, pop playing, and he gets that effect from this technique.I do not recall him saying anything about his amp settings on the video.I'm sure there are others on this forum that can tell you about that though. Good luck, he's a monster for sure.

[supermonkey]

The Ox used a variety of axes and amps over the years on his tone quest. But his sound always came from his fingers, IMO. What a Champion of Rock Bass.

Everything said so far is right on. The heavy attack from your fingers will do the most to help, esp. with the Tommy material. Several tunes on Tommy were played with a pick, esp. "Tommy Can You Hear Me?" & "Sally Simpson".

Add a tad bit of OD, kick the treble up and play heavy. That's the most you can do.

[Mon Rominee]

The live version of Tommy from Leeds was on a P Bass.

Yes, Entwistle loves him some treble...but not horn treble.

Slightly overdrive the highs: yes.

Don't be so cavalier as to say "nothing you can't handle" in the music. There is quite some intricate and tasty stuff there. The phrasings get a tad similar and there are alot of reprises to the openning overture, but there are tons of changes and really, alot to remember.

I was in a Who tribute ensemble and learned it note for note, no cheats. Took quite a while to get down. The way the Oeverture modulates and the way you approach it in position gets a bit squirrely.

Have fun with it.
Mon

[redliner47]

i was wondering, where did you get the music for it? did you order the sheet music or is there some place on the web?