Check Ya Head tone?

[billiam5billion]

Does anyone know what Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys used to get that sweet distorted tone for the Check Ya Head? I'm thinking specifically of the song "Gratitude."

[Floridabwoy]

Fuzz->flange/chorus->compressor?

[JehuJava]

Good song and good question!!!!

[Jared Lash]

That would be a Univox Super Fuzz.

Grygrx could point you in the direction of a number of clones/variants, but two I've dug are the Guyatone TZ-2 and the Black Cat.

[Jumbotron]

Yeah, you can get pretty close to that tone with a TZ-2. Nice little pedal.

[billiam5billion]

Originally Posted by Jared Lash

That would be a Univox Super Fuzz.

Grygrx could point you in the direction of a number of clones/variants, but two I've dug are the Guyatone TZ-2 and the Black Cat.

Ultra-bitchin!

Seriously, thanks for the quick replies to all. I'll be shopping online for the next hour or so.

[fasto]

Originally Posted by Jared Lash

That would be a Univox Super Fuzz.

That is true and he also used a "DNA Analogic BD-1 Bass Dragger Distortion Pedal" ... this pedal also functions as a booster and was made in Japan. If MCA (Yauch) also used it for the recording session of the great "Check your head" album ... in don´t know, but he used the BD-1 and the Univox Super Fuzz live on stage 2007 tour.

edit: check this great pic .... http://www.flickr.com/photos/oscilloscope/495719535/

[billiam5billion]

Originally Posted by fasto

That is true and he also used a "DNA Analogic BD-1 Bass Dragger Distortion Pedal" ... this pedal also functions as a booster and was made in Japan. If MCA (Yauch) also used it for the recording session of the great "Check your head" album ... in don´t know, but he used the BD-1 and the Univox Super Fuzz live on stage 2007 tour.

edit: check this great pic .... http://www.flickr.com/photos/oscilloscope/495719535/

That picture is awesome-he looks like a politician running for office on the bass ticket.

[Jared Lash]

As a side note, the Superfuzz is also what MCA used for "Sabotage".

Mike D and Ad Rock aren't great musicians but MCA is really an underrated bassist IMO. Great, solid and often funky lines and more than that he always has such great recorded tones.

The Gala Event

Off the Grid

[Spacelordmother]

Originally Posted by Jared Lash

As a side note, the Superfuzz is also what MCA used for "Sabotage".

Mike D and Ad Rock aren't great musicians but MCA is really an underrated bassist IMO. Great, solid and often funky lines and more than that he always has such great recorded tones.

The Gala Event

Off the Grid

I think he has the best flow when it comes to rhymes as well.

[fasto]

Originally Posted by Jared Lash

... but MCA is really an underrated bassist IMO. Great, solid and often funky lines and more than that he always has such great recorded tones.

+1 and i also like his upright bass sound.

But in total the Beasties Boys are a great live band ... i was lucky to see their "Special Instrumental Gala Event" at Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC in 2007 ... a highlight in my life.

[Volume4]

Great Post!!

I was just listening to this on my Ipod a couple of weeks ago waiting for the train and was thinking how good the bass sounded. I hadn't listened to this in a really long time.

I'm not sure and maybe someone else knows but I think that might be a Superfuzz into an Ampeg B-15.

Also, I really dig the Beasties Instrumental album In Sound From Way out......some nice bass playing and tones on that.

[fasto]

Check out how Yauch described how "Gratitude" developed:

"The bass line was something that I had made up early on as I was learning to play the bass, maybe around 1980. I think it grew out of a pedal that I'd acquired called a "Super Fuzz," and the tone of the box begged the line. In late '87, in the aftermath of Licensed to Ill, we decided to take a little break. I bought a Fostex reel-to-reel 8-track and starting writing songs with a friend named Tom Cushman. Tom reminded me about the old bass line. I found the Super Fuzz, and wrote a song sround it. The song was called "Gratitude." That version was over an 808 drum machine and had me singing on it. One day at G-Son, around '91 or '92, as we were working on the Check Your Head album, Adam H. was running late, so Mike and I started jamming. I had the Super Fuzz plugged in and began to play the "Gratitude" bass line. I showed Mike the arrangement and we recorded the basic structure of the song. The arrangement of "Gratitude" got taped on the 24-track. Horovitz came in later and put down the guitar parts. I tried doing the lyrics that I'd done on the 8-track demo version, but they didn't sound right. The song got put on the shelf with about a million other half-finished songs. About a year later, we decided to go on a lyric-writing excursion. The thought being that if the five of us (Mike, Adam H., Mario, Mark and I) were separated from our individual lives, maybe we'd get the ball rolling. Mario put instrumental versions of all the songs we were hoping to write lyrics for on cassette. During that trip Horovitz played the instrumental version of "Gratitude" several times. He had an idea, that he wanted to try singing on it, a flow for the words to fall into, and the song began to take shape"

Source: http://www.beastiemania.com/songspot...atitude&band=b

[kevteop]

I've been listening to Hello Nasty and 5 Boroughs a lot in the car lately and yeah he does have some great bass sounds, he also sneaks a lot more double bass parts/samples into their music than I'd noticed before.

I agree he's a very underrated bassist.

[khabalah]

great player! great band!!

[bigchiefbc]

Underrated, agreed. I remember seeing this when I was like 13 and thinking that it was one of the coolest performances I'd ever seen:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...deoID=51835064

[fasto]

^ok, lets keep the good stuff going.

here is a nice jam with MCA´s upright: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qXxe...os=WL5u3zzumnQ

[moose23]

One of my favourite albums with Gratitude being one of my all time favourite bass lines. It got me into using fuzz pedals on bass and all.

[Volume4]

This thread has me considering a Black Cat Superfuzz for my pedalboard build. I'm looking for something that isn't Muff based....since I have 4 Muff variants at the moment.