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Can you get a Jaco tone from a Ken Smith?
- Thread starter RoboChrist
- Start date
the sound is all in the fingers. ive heard that jaco could pick up any bass and get that tone minus the vibrato on fretted. playing a fretless j with an epoxied fingerboard will give you the easiest option, but learn how to EQ your bass right, find where you want to pluck and how hard you should pluck, and solo the bridge pickup.
Jaco had an almost mutant set of fingers, and his attack was incredibly strong even though he didn't crank away with his right hand ala Geddy or Steve Harris. He also had incredible endurance, he could play that hard and fast for an entire night. That kind of thing can't be duplicated by a bass brand, and is integral in his overall sound.
I don't know--I doubt Jaco could pick up any bass and get the same tone. I have yet to hear anything remotely similiar out of a P bass, or even a Stingray. Tone is in the fingers---to an extent. But you're not going to make a split coil P pickup in the neck position sound like a single coil J pickup near the bridge.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong here, but I'm 99.99% sure that Jaco played the intro to "Birdland" on fretless....
...and I'm pretty sure that most of "his most famous songs", were also on fretless....
Yep, he played his fretless on the whole "Heavy Weather" album, including Birdland.
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Yes, this is exactly what I thought. I'm wondering if J. Crawford meant fretless in his post.
hmm,well I had a Ken Smith Burner 4 string way way back in the day,and it had ( socalled) single coils.....they were more like humcancilin pups, but anyway it couldn't and `didn't get a jaco-esque tone from the bridge pickup at all...........
just get a Jazz bass for thatA lot of interesting replies to this thread so far. 
Actually, when I said jaco tone I wasn't really thinking literally in terms of copping his exact tone, but more of getting the spirit of it in a high end bass with humbuckers.
I have tried this on a Smith bass and with the right EQ settings it can sound very good.
In my opinion I think a lot of guys who play Smiths may misunderstand that the pickups were made with the express inent to make the bass sound with as little electronic colouration as possible, or "letting the woods speak" which is the opposite of what we're used to when we play Fenders. I think a lot of guys forget that the preamp on a Smith is there for a very good reason.
Actually, when I said jaco tone I wasn't really thinking literally in terms of copping his exact tone, but more of getting the spirit of it in a high end bass with humbuckers.
I have tried this on a Smith bass and with the right EQ settings it can sound very good.
In my opinion I think a lot of guys who play Smiths may misunderstand that the pickups were made with the express inent to make the bass sound with as little electronic colouration as possible, or "letting the woods speak" which is the opposite of what we're used to when we play Fenders. I think a lot of guys forget that the preamp on a Smith is there for a very good reason.
Nice
Opus pocus was always a fave of mine, I really dug the tone on that one. You can still hear that Smith top end peeking through and it sounds great!
Smith pickups are placed much closer to the bridge so all the years that I owned a Burner 4 string it did strike me that it had much more of that nasal-y bridge tone. Was it the same as a bridge pickup soloed on a Jazz? No. Can you get close enough that 90% of your audience wouldn't know the difference? Probably. If you want to be dead on bass-wise, get a Fender Jazz and drop Seymour Duncan Antiquity IIs in it. Seymour re-wound Jaco's pickups for him and that one-off later was the basis for Antiquity IIs - or so it is claimed.
Of course, I play a Fender AV 62 Jazz with SD Antiquity IIs and I sound NOTHING like Jaco - partly because I'm probably not that good but also partly because his tone wouldn't work in the gigs I have now - so, um, a lot of it is still in the hands.
Of course, I play a Fender AV 62 Jazz with SD Antiquity IIs and I sound NOTHING like Jaco - partly because I'm probably not that good but also partly because his tone wouldn't work in the gigs I have now - so, um, a lot of it is still in the hands.
Dude, if you can play and sound like that, it really doesnt matter if you imitate some other bass player's sound. Thats some fine playing. I now know beyond a doubt that I am so far behind what I should be as a player at my age
if were talking about precise articulation and technique combined with a bridge pickup tone than yeah, i guess you could say he has "jaco tone". but, strictly off tone alone, had doesnt sound like jaco (ie a fender or a bass with fender pickup placement). the burner is way thinner. fusion wise, id say tal wilkenfeld or anyone using a jazz with the bridge pickup solo'd sounds closer to the "jaco tone".
this is starting to remind of guys that say they get a great marcus miller sound out of their mtd or mexican jazz bass.
A lot of interesting replies to this thread so far.
In my opinion I think a lot of guys who play Smiths may misunderstand that the pickups were made with the express inent to make the bass sound with as little electronic colouration as possible, or "letting the woods speak" which is the opposite of what we're used to when we play Fenders. I think a lot of guys forget that the preamp on a Smith is there for a very good reason.
i hear the pickup placement in a smith much more than the wood speaking.
wrong. he played fretted. he talked about recording certain tracks over the years with his fretted basses in various articles back in the day. birdland was fretted and he played fretted on that track when they did it live as well.
