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06-02-2009, 08:14 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Takoma Park, MD (DC) | | | Jamerson using wireless?
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I found a British bass magazine at my local bookstore with an article on Jamerson. There's a picture of him standing to the drummer's right with an Ampeg Portaflex to the drummer's left, no cord visible, and it looks like there's a soapbar-size box plugged into his bass. Was that an early wireless unit? The pic looks like it's from 1970 or earlier. |
06-02-2009, 08:22 AM
|  | quid verum atque decens
Builder: Rickett Customs | | Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Southern Maryland | | | Any way to obtain that pic? I wanna see said pic before I go making assumptions........ |
06-02-2009, 08:32 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Takoma Park, MD (DC) | | | Yes, here it is. This version is slightly cropped so you can't see the amp, but the box on the bass is clearly visible. I didn't think wireless had been around that long ? |
06-02-2009, 08:35 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: U.K. | | I've seen that photo many times, but I don't know what the box is either 
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06-02-2009, 08:41 AM
| | quid verum atque decens
Builder: Rickett Customs | | Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Southern Maryland | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Ezbass  I've seen that photo many times, but I don't know what the box is either | +1, can't make head/tails out of it..... |
06-02-2009, 08:41 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Logan,W.V.(not up some holler) | | | That's one of those plug-in distortion boxes that he used w/his thrash-metal side project.
Seriously though,that is interesting.I'd like to find out myself. |
06-02-2009, 08:43 AM
|  | that video LIES | | Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Northern California | | | I've also seen the pic, and vaguely recall the box as being a clunky DI of sorts. As for no cable, it may well have been a staged shot & no one expected the missing cable would be noticed.
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06-02-2009, 08:46 AM
|  | Need more time.... Need more talent | | Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: San Antonio, TX | | | I've seen that photo before. I think it's on the cover of a Bass Player mag issue. But I don't recall seeing that little box. Photoshop comes to mind, why I don't know. I'll have to check the photo when I get home. I'm thinking it may be some kinda early preamp or buffer. Very interesting.
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06-02-2009, 08:50 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Central, PA | | | Page 28 in 'Standing in the shadows of motown' a similar picture has the caption:
"The small box plugged into the input of Jamerson's bass is an early wireless hookup. The box with the antenna on top of the piano is the receiver."
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06-02-2009, 08:50 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Brooklyn, NY | | | That pic looks really early, definitely early 60's. Have no idea what that box could be.
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06-02-2009, 08:54 AM
|  | OVNIFX
EXAR pedals rep for North & Central America | | Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: PDX, OR | | Quote:
Originally Posted by JackANSI Page 28 in 'Standing in the shadows of motown' a similar picture has the caption:
"The small box plugged into the input of Jamerson's bass is an early wireless hookup. The box with the antenna on top of the piano is the receiver." | We've had this thread many times, and the Shadows of Motown caption is the best info anyone has come up with. It is a wireless unit. If it wasn't a wireless unit, you'd see a cable coming out of the box. |
06-02-2009, 09:05 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Central, PA | | | Why do you think I refered to shadows? If anyone knew the make and model, I would have posted that.
Only difference is I didn't get all righteous about it.
PS: and I doubt it was ever part of his recorded sound so it really shouldn't matter anyway.
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Last edited by JackANSI : 06-02-2009 at 09:12 AM.
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06-02-2009, 09:14 AM
|  | Dr. Jim | | Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Denton TX, Kailua HI, New York | | Quote:
Originally Posted by robkphoto That pic looks really early, definitely early 60's. Have no idea what that box could be. | I think the date of the picture is probably Summer or Fall of 1964--might be a year later. I draw that conclusion due to the evidence in the photo. The men's fashions (shark skin suits, narrow ties, high tie tacks, snap tabs, short hair) are pure 1964, and the large fan on stage suggests it is not Winter or Spring. 
Ps. I wonder who they are watching.
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Last edited by Jim Carr : 06-02-2009 at 09:17 AM.
Reason: added Ps.
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06-02-2009, 09:21 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: St. Louis MO | | It is probably a Dan Armstrong compressor box - http://www.danarmstrongeffects.com/p..._squeezer.html
These have been around a long time.
Notice how the box extends past the tail end of the body. This is because the old Armstrong color boxes had the output jacks on the rear panel, along with the captive input plug. This also explains why you cannot see the guitar cable. No way is that a wireless transmitter.
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Last edited by lofreek : 06-02-2009 at 09:41 AM.
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06-02-2009, 09:40 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Central, PA | | | Ok Bongomania, I see your frustration... Peace dude... Words never taste good...
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06-02-2009, 09:44 AM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Central Illinois, USA | | | Nah, not an Orange Squeezer. The lay out is all wrong, and it predates the Dan Armstrong stuff. I'm going with the information in "Standing In The Shadows of Motown" book, it's an early wireless transmitter.
C'mon, a wireless is just a radio. How hard would it be for some bright person to come up with the idea of adapting a walkie-talkie circuit in 1964 to accept an instrument level signal isntead of the crappy mic/speaker generally used? Makes more sense than anything else advanced.
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06-02-2009, 10:05 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: St. Louis MO | | | C'mon, those Dan Armstrong color boxes were in wide use among studio musicians back in the day, and how likely is it that any 60's or 70's battery powered walkie talkie, no matter how modified, could be anywhere nearly good enough for use by this man, or small enough to fit in that box? How desirable would James have found a wireless? My guess is zero, especially if the sound sucked.
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06-02-2009, 10:17 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: UK | | | Weren't those Dan Armstrong boxes first made in the 70s? And the picture's from the 60s...?
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06-02-2009, 10:26 AM
| | OVNIFX
EXAR pedals rep for North & Central America | | Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: PDX, OR | | Quote:
Originally Posted by JackANSI Ok Bongomania, I see your frustration... Peace dude... Words never taste good... | Right, I was not getting righteous at you at all, I was supporting what you were saying. I should have typed it in differently to make that more clear.
To others:
It is not a Dan Armstrong pedal because if it was, you'd see a cable coming out of the front of it.
Radio has been in use since way before the '60s, and there is no point in guessing whether Jamerson would have been satisfied with it. For one thing, you just don't know. For another, he played with action and technique that most people would get ridiculed for on this forum, so he had his own idea of what works and sounds good.
Besides, maybe he was experimenting with it that week and later decided he didn't like it. Who knows?
Last edited by bongomania : 06-02-2009 at 10:30 AM.
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06-02-2009, 10:27 AM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Albany IL | | Quote:
Originally Posted by JackANSI Page 28 in 'Standing in the shadows of motown' a similar picture has the caption:
"The small box plugged into the input of Jamerson's bass is an early wireless hookup. The box with the antenna on top of the piano is the receiver." |
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