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Fender Precision 1975 - Emulating Jamerson
- Thread starter J_Bass
- Start date
I'll agree with You only if You have been in the studio yourself every time while he was recording, otherwise it's a hearsay.
I'm a life-long P bass player, with a few thoughts. To get closer, I'd add more muting (foam or Nino Mute) to cut the sustain. And while it might seem counter-intuitive, I think that the bridge-cable strings might be limiting your ability to get the same amount of attack. Somewhat lighter strings would allow you to pluck the strings harder without killing the fingers on your right hand.
You win!
It's interesting to note whilst Bob went for their in-house DI specifically because of the way the transformers saturated with bass (compared to Countryman, and others, which he hated for that application), the distortion / overdrive that we're all so familiar with was never intended to be present in the recording.
He said It just happened that take #1, or take #2 was a far better performance than say take #8 for example ; and they prioritised performance over fidelity - so the clean later takes were rejected in favour of the early takes, in spite of the fact that the levels weren't dialled in.
I can't say that I've listened to every available isolated Jamerson bass track, but I'd be amazed if at least some of them aren't clean - which was how he was supposed to sound.
It's why I suggested a tube preamp. I have a Sushi Box FX Finally v3 and if I push the tube it gets a similar attack, all through the DI transformer.
I can't get a similar tone from clipping a USB audio interface and a computer.
Another way is to use a saturation plugin in a DAW.
In general, a lot of gear (pedals, interfaces) can be overloaded with extra signal with interesting effects. For example I have a chorus pedal I built (a clone of the Boss CE-1) that clips in a cool lo-fi way. Most Faifrield Circuitry pedals can be overdriven while minimizing the main effect, etc.
I think is close. Jamerson sounds with a consisten hard pluck resulting in a more staccato sound, no legato or big dynamic range. But its almost there
Motown stuff was HPFed at 80 Hz. I’d add that to the tone as well.
The foam has changed over the years. It used to be a hard sponge rubber, now it is weather stripping that Fender sells for pickup height foam and bridge cover mutes.
My 62 P bass came with the hard sponge rubber stuck to the bridge cover, nothing like the foam today.
It was more like rubber from a mouse pad. I think those with vintage basses can confirm this.
It wasn't out of need, it was what they got from James. It was how his hard plucking, the heavy strings driving the pickup and the front end of the mixer and tape. This was not by design but by happenstance but it worked in the final mix
When he moved to LA he did use a B-15 and DI in the studio, not back in Detroit, that was all direct to the mixer. It was him overdriving the mixer in the studio of Motown Detroit.
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