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fuzz to take me higher!

#4
Big muff won't get you there. There is info out there with regards to what Larry Graham used on there. I can't remember what it was. But, you'd want something that gets much more farty than a muff. The big Muff will not be that pedal for sure. Some more knowledgeable people will quickly chime in hopefully.
 
#5
Last I read up it was the fuzz circuit in his Acoustic amp. There are people that make that fuzz, actually think there's one for sale in the classifieds right now. You can also get there with more of a brassmaster or fuzzface type fuzz. I have a silicon fuzz face I built that gets in the ballpark, but I wouldn't recommend that pedal because of its finicky personality.

I want to say JimmyM has used an MXR Bass Fuzz Deluxe (maybe even a smallsound/bigsound TAFM?) for Sly tunes, maybe hit him up if he doesn't reply here.
 
#7
Larry did use a custom Proco Dreadnaught (which was not supposed to be a dreadnaught at all but some kind of prototype or something) later on (post this recording).
 
#8
skulletwhip said:
No... Those slides after he sings "let me add some bottom.." Have fuzz. About 1:16 into the track.
Click to expand...

That's a keyboard doubling the bass. You can hear the clean bass on the right side and the keyboard on the left side.

I suppose it's possible there are two bass tracks, one clean and one distorted at that part. But the two instruments are not playing exactly the same thing, which is why I think it's a different musician on a different instrument.
 
#9
It's widely acknowledged that Graham did the distorted parts.

Here's a quote from Graham -

“Actually it came from using a distortion pedal, some folks call it a fuzz tone. Because I played guitar first and I was into guitars players, I wanted to know what the bass would sound like with the same pedals the guitar players were using, and that’s how I really came up with the concept of plugging my bass into distortion. That’s that sound you hear on “M’Lady”, “Dance to the Music” and some other songs. Now, they make design [distortion pedals] for bass, too – wah-wah, distortion – but back then, it was all for guitars.”
 
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#11
Larry Graham used the fuzz built into the Acoustic amps and then later the ProCo Juggernaut I believe. At one point in the last few years I know he was using a Lovetone Big Cheese. I had the OLC clone and it was a really nice fuzz box even if it lost a little low end. The only time I covered "I Want to Take You Higher" I used a Chunk Systems Brown Dog. The clean blend was helpful in dialing in that Larry Graham tone.

Check out the "Bodyheat" and "Upper Crust" samples and I think you can see how you could get in that ballpark easily with the Chunk:

Chunk Systems bass effects: Brown Dog gated bass fuzz effect pedal
 
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#15
It was the Purple Peaker.

purple.jpg
 
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#16
There's a great video on Youtube of Bobby Vega doing that tune through a 360. I'm not sure if that's what Larry recorded the tune with,
but Bobby Vega makes it sound right. Then again, it's Bobby Vega, he'd sound good through______________ (you fill in the blank).
 
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#19
My band does "Dance To The Music," and I've indeed used both a TAFM and MXR BFD, and currently I'm using a VT Deluxe with the drive turned all the way up. Honestly, any of them will get you into that sound, but the TAFM is probably the closest to the original vibe. However, I might check into a B:assmaster or Diabolik, since Larry apparently used a Maestro fuzz. Or maybe one of those Acoustic fuzz clones. Or pretty much anything ;)
 
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