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Classic Motown Sound

R

Ron G

Mar 16, 2009
325
7
Portsmouth, VA
#1
I have an Ampeg BA-115HPT with the following settings:

Style switch 1=-25dB @500Hz, 2=-12dB @500Hz, 3= flat, 4- +5 @2kHz and above, 5=-6dB @50Hz and below;
Low 4dB range @50Hz, Mid 30dB range @500Hz, High 40dB @10kHz.

How should I set-up my amp to achieve that classic Motown sound?
 
#2
I'd run it flat, with maybe a slight boost to the mids, and the selector on 1 or 2, (for further mid boosting). Use flats on a P bass, too. The "real" Motown sound would be achieved using the P bass, flats, and an Ampeg B15 all tube amp.
 
#4
When I've used a buddies BA-115, I ran it on based on the following (from memory)

Style #2, Bass = 3:00, Mid = 9:00, Trebele at noon. I actually prefer the sound of style #1, but in a live setting #2 seemed to work a little better. Even though #1 and #2 are both centered at 500hz like the mid knob, I think they each create slightly different Q curves.
 
#5
RickenBoogie said:
I'd run it flat, with maybe a slight boost to the mids, and the selector on 1 or 2, (for further mid boosting). Use flats on a P bass, too. The "real" Motown sound would be achieved using the P bass, flats, and an Ampeg B15 all tube amp.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much it. Though I believe Jamerson also used a Kustom.

Keep in mind, these were lo-fi amps with tubes. They had inherent distortion. I'm not sure it work for every occasion, but it's a cool sound for certain things.
 
#8
leegreenman said:
Yeah. I'm fairly sure they never used a bass amp in the studio.
Click to expand...

That is correct. No guitar amps either. They all plugged into a panel which fed the control room directly. There was a speaker feed back into the playing room so they could monitor themselves.

People like to assume that Jamerson recorded with a b15, but that simply isn't true.
 
#9
Caca de Kick said:
Actually the famous Motown recordings done in Detroit were not recorded with the amp. The signal was run into a tube mixer, then straight to the console.
Click to expand...

You are correct. According to Bob Ohlsson who was one of the recording engineers at Motown back then; "The Motown guitars and bass were all plugged in direct with one side of the feed sent to a mixer out in the studio that the musicians used to hear themselves over a 15 inch speaker driven by a Mac 60 amp."

Nothing JJ tracked at least at Hitsville in Detroit was recorded through an amp. There are of course plenty of non-Motown tracks he played on so it's possible he was recorded through a mic'd amp at some point but not on Motown tracks.
 
#11
I'm not sure if the bass was compressed while tracking or not, at the time most of what was used in the way of preamps, compressors, console was either custom made or a highly modified commercial product. There was one guy at the time who built all this stuff though his name escapes me at the moment.

Amen on the cost of a Fairchild.
 
#13
RobJ said:
Nothing JJ tracked at least at Hitsville in Detroit was recorded through an amp. There are of course plenty of non-Motown tracks he played on so it's possible he was recorded through a mic'd amp at some point but not on Motown tracks.
Click to expand...
the early motown stuff was tracked with mic'ed amps, like the first couple years. once they installed the di panel, they stopped doing it, but the first couple years' worth of stuff is mic'ed.
 
#16
I use that amp from time to time. Setting 3 with Treb, Mid and Bass near noon. Maybe a little bass bump. Is my best suggestion, but your bass and style of playing may need some tweaking.

Thanks for posting the definitions of the switches. I don't think I have a manual
 
#17
Other than Jamerson himself, and the P with flats, the key is the amount of overdrive going on. If you listen to all of the solo'd stuff out there, you can tell there was never just a single eq setting used........ but the amount of distortion you hear is actually quite amazing, and in the mix, you only pick up "hints" of it. It's cool how a bit of grit can help you cut through, and in the mix still sound reasonably clean. The motown cats had that figured out.
 
#19
A good bit of his sound includes stuff that bass players of the last couple of decades generally don't like or like to use. One word - mud. I tell you this based on previous readings and even a taped live performance. He did indeed use more than one amp live. One was the aforementioned Kustom 200 with 2-15 cab and a Fender Dual Showman with 2-15 JBL cab. Not sure if the Kustom had the optional JBLs or Altecs. Tone control on the Pbass was all bass, no treble. Also remember that his still had the foam mute that came standard on Ps located under the bridge cover. And the Kustom was also set with the treble contol off and bass full. I don't know how the Dual Showman controls were set. This of course is not the entire story, but are the parts that I know from readings that I have no reason to doubt, and from viewing concert performances. Please don't ask for references to articles or concerts. The only one that I remember is the one using the Dual Showman circulated here on TB about a year ago. Also remember that full on bass controls for early amps did not produce as deep or thick bass as more modern and more powerfull amps. So if you're using something newer, adjustments will need to be made. The keys to the mud were the flat wounds, the foam mute and the no treble settings. The overall tone might be a little more tricky in adjusting but this accounts for a good portion of it. And of course, we've not touched on playing style, which is another whole area affecting sound/tone. Sorry to somewhat hijack the thread, but part of the question concerned JJs tone, and this is some of what is was. :cool:
 

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