Question on Jaco tone

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

Hi everybody.

As most of us know, Jaco's signature tone comes from his Jazz Bass with the bridge pickup soloed (aside from his hands, of course). I just want to make sure (after a discussion with a friend) if his bridge pickup was completely soloed (sounds like that to me) or if he blended a tad of his neck pickup. Thank you!

[JimK]

IMO, it was NOT totally solo'd.

[skewh]

I was told by a close friend of Jaco's that he soloed the bridge pickup completely.

[Kosta]

I can get that jaco sound with my jazz bass with the bridge pickup solod and playing right atop of it. That being said, i can only get that funky one, not the MWAH one which is so orgasmic to the ears and that everyone cops.

[MikeyFingers]

I don't think he soloed the bridge pickup. Maybe for some songs/licks he did, but most of the time I think he had at least SOME neck pickup in there too. There's no way he got that MWAHH with just a bridge pickup.

[jerry]

I don't think Jaco soloed the bridge pickup either. He did move his right picking hand around more than some people think, up by the neck for mawh and down by the bridge for 16th note funk etc.

[Alex E]

Originally Posted by Alvaro Martín Gómez A.

Hi everybody.

As most of us know, Jaco's signature tone comes from his Jazz Bass with the bridge pickup soloed (aside from his hands, of course). I just want to make sure (after a discussion with a friend) if his bridge pickup was completely soloed (sounds like that to me) or if he blended a tad of his neck pickup. Thank you!

I've heard, too, that Jaco used the bridge pup soloed.

Interestingly, I read that he never cleaned the strings and he liked to eat fried chicken, I think it was, before playing to sort of lube up his fingers. It was a legitimate article in Bass Player Mag. That kind of string treatment would certainly deaden the strings in an unusual way. I imagine they'd be really growly from full on bridge pickup, but still 'kinda' dead from being dirty and greasey.
Not the same trebly pop that new or cleaned strings would give you, but still with that distinctive edge.

He was a one of a kind.

[Sippy]

jaco did not use the bridge pick up totally soloed. He played on top of the bridge, he used primarily the bridge pickup, and he EQ'd the mids pretty high. But no it is not completely soloed. It just sounds this way from his finger position and EQ settings.

[superbassman2000]

i read that he solos his bridge pickup, but turns up the bass on the amp, which i believe, because i could get a similar sound when i had a fretless fender J.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Well - I think it depends - he varied the controls for different sounds.

So - if you watch the DVD of Shadows and Light, you can see Jaco altering the control knobs to get different sounds - sometimes bassier, with a bit of neck pickup and sometimes more cutting, with less....