Classic Motown Sound

[MNAirHead]

When recording with 60s bands... (producer is from the era)

Chain is...

Cheap Pbass copy (my pre cbs doesn't record as well) > tapewounds > MXR M80 (bass pushed high) > Trident Board > Protools (clean)

I couldn't get the sound right until an old timer revamped my hifi touch for the group.

Tim

 

[JimmyM]

His tone wasn't all that unique back in the day, being pretty much defined by the limitations of the gear. What separated his style from most was the staccato, and the fact that he did most of his playing in the higher registers. Two reasons for that: you couldn't play low and clean with the amps of that day, and if you did you'd never hear it on the most common form of playback in the 60s and 70s, car radios. My style then was very similar, for the same reasons. I still play pretty much the same way, though I dropped flatwounds like a bad habit after trying my first set of rotosounds around '71, and once I got speakers that would go full bore to low E without breaking a sweat I stopped venturing above the seventh fret.

ya, and in the 80's anyone who played flats was considered a throwback. but now it's all come full circle again because those types of sounds just plain work for so many different types of music. flats have made a huge comeback, and even folks who dig the more hi fi tones and gear are looking for ways to vintage up their sound when needed. like my pal tim right above my post

 

[pgk]

i've never had anything on my bass ('62 ri P) But flats, so go on and throw me back! i bought it in the 80's, it had ghs rounds on it and a duncan quarter pounder rawk pickup (blech) installed. but the guy gave me the original pickup too and the first thing i did was reinstall it and slap a new set of jamersons on it. heaven, except for the monstrous tension of that set. i went to 760fl's in '95 and they're a perfect fit for me and the bass. fat lowdown and straight ahead, with a ton of fundamental. perfection, for me that is

 

[billfitzmaurice]

even folks who dig the more hi fi tones and gear are looking for ways to vintage up their sound when needed.

That's easy enough: kill the lows, kill the highs, and don't venture below A.

 

[JimmyM]

That's easy enough: kill the lows, kill the highs, and don't venture below A.

a little distortion helps, too