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90's basses for that smooth jazz sound

AngelCrusher

AngelCrusher

Sep 12, 2004
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6,871
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Mesa Boogie, Tech 21, Taylor
#1
Wanted to throw back to the 90's when slap was still pretty big and active basses were the hot thing. Not sure how many of you liked the players on smooth jazz records, but that era was highly influential for me.

There were a good amount of basses being used, but the sound for me had to be the active jazz bass, both pickups on, tone rolled back around halfway with a little boost in the highs and lows. Gives you that juicy pop sound and a nice clear slap. And then you can just throw the knob on the back pickup when you want the more throaty sound for finger style and soloing.

Curious if anyone here was playing that style back and then can share setups. I remember the Eq's were usually cut a bit around 500 or so for slap. Not sure what compressors people were using back then but it was a huge part of the sound as well. Also stringwise - nickel, steel and what tensions?

I just figured the classic Pbasses and flats discussion has happened so many times here, I'd love to hear from anyone, especially folks who own 90's active basses in general and still play them. Sadly, mine have been gone for quite a while but I have found myself really wanting an active jazz again if I find the right one.

This era was when the "sadowsky sound" really blossomed too. Those basses are weapons for this style of music, maybe the best options out there.

Anyway, interested in hearing from the players from that era or people who are knowledgable about it. It would be super fun for me to build a 90's setup again.
 
#4
Yeah Ken smiths for sure. And a lot of bass players were trying out 5-6 strings as well.

I wonder if there is an online archive of bass player magazine anywhere. It would be fun to read those old articles again.
 
#6
ole Jason said:
Alembic and Ken Smith were the big ones. You'd also see plenty of Modulus, Yamaha, Peavey (Cirrus), and Carvin. There was a point where pretty much every manufacturer was making that style of bass. I don't really remember seeing Sadowsky all that often until the early 2000's.
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Sadowsky was definitely around though in fusion acts. The Ken Smith slap sound and the active jazz bass slap tone are pretty different. Some people claim his 90's basses are the best ones, but mine is a 2016 so I can't compare.
 
#7
I had a Modulus Q5 with Bartolini electronics (actually a pair, fretted and fretless) that I loved and am kind of surprised I don't still have. They were going to be "the last basses I bought" but we all know how that goes. They definitely had that sound. I was probably using SWR amps and cabs at the time as well. I hadn't goten into compressors yet.
 
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#8
SteveC said:
I had a Modulus Q5 with Bartolini electronics (actually a pair, fretted and fretless) that I loved and am kind of surprised I don't still have. They were going to be "the last basses I bought" but we all know how that goes. They definitely had that sound. I was probably using SWR amps and cabs at the time as well. I hadn't goten into compressors yet.
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I had a modulus too - the flea model. I didn't use compressors much either, but I was getting a lot of modern rock gigs and drive pedals seemed to be the way to go.

What's funny is when I was a kid I wanted a fusion style active 90s bass and managed to get a soundgear after a summer of work. I used it for quite a while but with it's super clean sound, colored coffee table look and gold hardware, it really did not fit with a rock band. So I got a jazz bass and used that a lot. I also kind of satisfied my fusion bass desires with a Warwick Corvette, but once I saw the modulus I had to have it.

Great touring bass, never intonation issues with that neck. Mine did not have the fusion sound, it was more of a barky thing going on. But the electronics were not really like the Q5's either.
 
#9
hi AngelCrusher :)

Gear wise Smooth Jazz Pop in the 90s was an extension of the 80s

AngelCrusher said:
I remember the Eq's were usually cut a bit around 500 or so for slap
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More than just a bit! The smiley curve on the EQ was a must!

Amps of the decade: SWRs, EBSs, Trace Elliot and no surprise some rare SVTs

But mostly racks!

Folks who didn't play Trace Elliots (GP11 or GP12) had usually a seperate EQ in their rack.

Basses: Everything coffee table with two pups, mostly slim soapbar (not MM style!) or stacked Jazz pups.

AngelCrusher said:
Also stringwise - nickel, steel
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Yes! :D

Always rounds! Always thin! Max = 100 for the E string, always thinner for five string basses.

Super low action!



greetings

Wise
 
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#11
Another bass to consider is F Bass. I made these photos of Alain at the 2010 NAMM Show.

Alain Caron-1200_8465.jpg
Alain-Caron_1280_8450.jpg
 
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#15
AngelCrusher said:
I wonder if there is an online archive of bass player magazine anywhere. It would be fun to read those old articles again.
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Nothing I'm aware of, unless someone has done an archive as a passion project at some point that is not well known. Unfortunately now that BP is just a division of Guitar Player's website, the BP website seems to have been been taken down entirely, and there doesn't appear to be much of any archive of any old BP content outside of digging around old versions of the BP site on Wayback Machine.

I worked at BP's office as an intern many years ago and one of the best parts was being able to dig through all of the old issues.
 
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#17
Jugghaid said:
Yeah, Pedulla, Tobias, Modulus, Ken Smith, Sadowsky, etc for basses. SWR, Eden, Gloclenklang, EBS, Trace, iAmp( that might be 2000s), for amps.

Had all of em at one point.
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Damn, you were living my childhood dream..haha. Are there any good stores in Denver that you find some of those old gems at, or just have a good bass collection?
 
#18
I had most of those in the 2000s. Bought a lot of them used here in the classifieds. That's also when Harmony Central was going strong. I was a big gear flipper back then.

So far as good Denver stores, we have a few. Drum City Guitar Land is my #1, but we have some good GCs, and used to have Guitar X, First Bass, Mars Music and lots of others. Most are gone. Still have Wildwood here too.
 
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#20
MCS4 said:
Nothing I'm aware of, unless someone has done an archive as a passion project at some point that is not well known. Unfortunately now that BP is just a division of Guitar Player's website, the BP website seems to have been been taken down entirely, and there doesn't appear to be much of any archive of any old BP content outside of digging around old versions of the BP site on Wayback Machine.

I worked at BP's office as an intern many years ago and one of the best parts was being able to dig through all of the old issues.
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Wow - great to know that.

My friend Phil D. from the Salinas CA area collected many GP and BP issues. He has them on organized in binders by the year. There was the Pino interview that I relished reading back again. And so are Adam Laboriel articles. Love the transcriptions as well. There was no youtube to learn a bass line. You had to read. He also has some old catalogs from Fender etc. but I did not dig too hard. I went there a week or so ago. I wish I had more time.

And he also had Modern Drummer and stacks of Melody Maker (I used to read this, never bother to keep any copy except maybe a few Suzanne Vega articles )
 

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