Eskaton Bass Tone?

[LHB]

(Not sure if this is the right place to post this but...)

I was wondering what type of setup would have been used by the bassist in the band Eskaton to create the semi-fuzzed tone used throughout their 4 Visions album (see 3:25 in the video for an example).



To these ears it almost sounds like a fretless with the way each note seems to sustain into the next to create an almost seamless torrent of sound. Is this a purely a technique based way of playing, or were effects used to help create it?

 

[Axstar]

Hey hey! Eskaton! A fine Zeuhl band.

This is the only image I can find of Eskaton live:

4 Visions came out in 1981. In the above image I'm seeing a Shergold Modulator, which were built from 1976 onwards. The synths also loo like smaller early '80s units... the bass looks like a "slot head" Gibson EB-3.

I know a lot more about Magma's bassists, though the tone and feel is similar. I saw Magma last year, and Philippe Bussonnet was on bass. He was definitely working hard for his supper, making every note count. Where you get that semi-fluid ostinato sound, at least in Magma, it is just a heavy groove with the bassist playing every note. No hammer-ons or pull-offs, simply a very legato finger style. The Magma bass sound came from Ampeg SVTs with a master volume control fitted, combined with basses tuned in fifths (cello tuning). Bernard Paganotti used a volume pedal and an EMS Synthi Hi-Fli, for octave and fuzz effects.

The Eskaton bassist sounds like he is simply pushing the front end of a tube amp hard.

 

[LHB]

Thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for! Love Magma and can definitely see the connection in style. I'm fairly new to bass guitar, so could you explain what pushing the front end of an amp means?

 

[Axstar]

I'm fairly new to bass guitar, so could you explain what pushing the front end of an amp means?

Basically your bass signal is strong (or 'hot') enough to make the preamp of the amp overdrive. It sounds good with tube amplifiers, and not necessarily good for solid state amplifiers.

When I saw Magma last year the bassist was using a volume pedal to control the strength of the signal going into the amplifier (Ampeg SVT) and an overdrive pedal of some sort.