What effects are used in "Sunshine"

[mid_life_crisis]

I just started playing around with the first few bars of Sunshine of Your Love. Due to my complete newbness, I have no idea what effects Jack Bruce is using to produce that thick sound. I'm sure somebody here knows and can educate me. I'm not so much interested in the particular brands but the types, as a learning exercise.

Thanks

[3toes]

Originally Posted by mid_life_crisis

I just started playing around with the first few bars of Sunshine of Your Love. Due to my complete newbness, I have no idea what effects Jack Bruce is using to produce that thick sound. I'm sure somebody here knows and can educate me. I'm not so much interested in the particular brands but the types, as a learning exercise.

Thanks

A tube amp and a Gibson EB-3 bass.

[Rickett Customs]

I'm not sure it was an EB-3 with a Marshall 100, with 2 412 cabs, that's what he used mostly live, in that time.

Although the EB-3 was used live, He has used Dano's and a Fender BassVI.....for Disraeli Gears

It is also mentioned that he used a Selmer Treble N Bass 50, on "Fresh Cream", but no mention of "Disraeli Gears".

[mid_life_crisis]

Originally Posted by 3toes

A tube amp and a Gibson EB-3 bass.

So he's just overdriving a tube amp a little?

[jaywa]

Originally Posted by mid_life_crisis

So he's just overdriving a tube amp a little?

Yup. Effects for bass hadn't even been invented yet.

If you're hearing any effects in that song, they would be on Clapton's guitar.

[GianGian]

Originally Posted by jaywa

Yup. Effects for bass hadn't even been invented yet back then.

If you're hearing any effects in that song, they would be on Clapton's guitar.

If memory serves me well, there are no effects on the guitar either, it is just the "woman tone" on the whole song.

[mid_life_crisis]

I'm not hearing anything that sounds blatantly like an effect. I just didn't know how the bass tone got that thick, for lack of a better word, sound to it and had assumed it was some kind of an effect, however subtly used.
Now I know better.
I learned something new. It's a good day.
I think there's going to be lots of those if I keep hanging around this forum.

[chrisisnotevil]

Originally Posted by Rickett Customs

It is also mentioned that he used a Selmer Treble N Bass 50, on "Fresh Cream"...

Off topic, but these are gorgeous little amps that play really nicely with a range of dirt pedals.

[bigchiefbc]

Originally Posted by jaywa

Yup. Effects for bass hadn't even been invented yet.

If you're hearing any effects in that song, they would be on Clapton's guitar.

I'm not disputing that you're correct about his tone in this song. But people had certainly used effects on bass by this point. McCartney had been using fuzz pedals with his bass since '65 at the latest.

[jaywa]

Originally Posted by bigchiefbc

I'm not disputing that you're correct about his tone in this song. But people had certainly used effects on bass by this point. McCartney had been using fuzz pedals with his bass since '65 at the latest.

I guess what I meant to say is that effects designed specifically for bass hadn't been invented yet. I'm sure certain bassists were experimenting with guitar effects by the mid-60s though, just like certain bassists of that era used guitar amps and/or cabs instead of bass-specific gear.

[Bigjohn]

No effects.
Just Jack's attack, string bending and the instrument, strings and gear he had available at the time:
60's EB3 ( I think), flatwounds, Marshall Superbass 100, Marshall 4x12 cab(s).
Jack was an upright player too, so he brought that background into the mix too.
But other than liking that bass short scale EB3 at the time and choosing it over say a Fender, his gear wasn't so much a choice back then. Cream was a loud British band and the loud British amps available in the mid/late 60's were Marshall. Those were very primitive times bass-wise. No SVTs quite yet, no Acoustic 360's ... just basically vox, Marshall (and similar), Fender and a few other upstarts.
So from what I understand, his signature sound was just his style and attack wrapping around gear that was more or less happenstance and necessity.
It was a cool sound though, wasn't it?

[mid_life_crisis]

I don't really know how to describe it.
All I keep coming up with is thick and dense, solid.
Sound you could walk on.
Which is probably why it was the foundation for such great blues/rock.

[jhines]

I am not an expert by any stretch, but it was pretty common then (and now, really) to add a pretty good amount of compression to a recorded bass track before bouncing it. This would, effectively, "thicken" the bass. I suppose, at the time, the speakers used to reproduce a recording were not as inherently "bass heavy" as what we use now which would exacerbate the situation even more in a current listening context.

NOTE: I do own a copy of this song but don't have it available at the moment to listen to but felt that the compression thing might take you a step closer to your goal.

[ga_edwards]

Originally Posted by Bigjohn

Jack was an upright player too, so he brought that background into the mix too.

IIRC I believe he wrote the riff on the upright bass.

Come to think of it, a lot of those early Cream basslines had an upright feel and almost sound quality to them, which probably also accounts for his preference of the EB3/Marshall combo over the more popular Fender. It also explains why he nearly exclusively plays fretless Thumb basses these days.

[jetofuj]

Don't want to hijack the thread, but listen to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h2ywNdG45I

I just love the bass tone.