Getting that sound: Television Marquee Moon

There's nothing about Fred Smith's tone on that first Television album that makes me think it involved anything more exotic than a bog-stock Fender Precision Bass into a generic DI and split into an Ampeg B15 fliptop or Fender Bassman 50 amp, probably mic'd with an Electro-Voice RE20 or Sennheiser MD421 ...iow, practically a clichéd recipe for rock'n'roll bass tone in the 1970s

...not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

Can't say for sure what he used for that track, but he was known for playing an Ampeg SSB shortscale. When I saw them in '93 he was playing a G&L, I think an L2000.

 

Most likely it was that Ampeg SSB, and most likely a Fender Bassman, as seen in that photo on the inner sleeve of the first album, but he’s been seen with a Danelectro Longhorn in that time period as well I saw them in early ‘77, as support on Peter Gabriel’s tour of his first solo album, and they had a weird assortment of gear; Smith was playing a Fender Mustang, Verlaine an Ampeg/Armstrong plexi(like Keef), and Lloyd a Travis Bean, through Music Man combos(Fred had an SVT). At a Television show two years ago(with Jimmy Ripp)Fred had the SSB/SVT set. In the 80’s, he played with a honky tonk/rockabilly singer, Kristy Rose, and I saw them/him with a Precision. Also in the late 80’s he was in a band called Peregrins, which I sorta remember was in the vicinity of 10,000 Maniacs stylistically, had a couple of albums. Don’t know what he used then.