Great music recorded on cheap instruments

[petermwright]

The Police, especially the records before Ghost in the Machine.

I saw Sting on his "back to the bass" tour 10 or 12 years ago. He noodled more than usual on that 50s P bass of his between songs. It was fascinating to hear, but to my ears that bass sounds like garbage when you hear it alone. Sure sounds good in the tunes though.

Sting and Andy Summers were playing Fenders right from the beginning, I wouldn’t call them cheap.

 

[pbassnut]

Graham Maby played a 1977 Ibanez Silver Series "lawsuit" Jazz Bass copy on the first three Joe Jackson albums "Look Sharp", "I'm the Man", and "Beat Crazy" and sounded stellar, IMHO.

 

[petermwright]

Well, for one, Billy Shears’ Hoffner was and is a cheap instrument. It was nearly identical to the one McCartney used.

Please tell me you’re joking.

 

[ardgedee]

How much do you think a Fender Precision bass cost when Jamerson recorded all those Motown hits?

I couldn't find a 1962 price list (the year his Funk Machine was made) but Invalid Link Removed, roughly equivalent to US$2,360.40 in 2023 money. And Invalid Link Removed between $238.50 and $304.00, roughly equivalent to $2,075.84 to $2,645.93 in 2023 money. The Bass V (which Jamerson also played) cost even more.

Taking inflation into account, made-in-USA Fenders have not changed price significantly over the past seventy years.

 

[pbass2]

I'm sure I missed it in the thread somewhere, but Wyman's first bass certainly fits the bill.

 

[ClusterFlux]

Possible repeats, but here we go.

I'd guess that most true first albums recorded by musicians are on cheap instruments. E.g. the 1st albums by most British Invasion bands were on pretty cheap stuff. I'd assume that most blues and R&B albums before maybe 1950? were on cheap instruments. Same for lots of punk bands.

In terms of people intentionally using cheap gear:

Pavement
Sonic Youth
Wilco
Prince (his Hohner supposedly cost him $30 at a gas station)
Beck
Jack White
Black Keys

 

[arbiterusa]

Here you go. Up for all sorts of awards in old blighty, badass music, great musicians, great use of tech, brilliant singer.....bass player using a Westone Thunder I (and she uses it religiously) . I have a Thunder II v3 and it is ace. She has great taste and must be strong too coz they are HEAVY.....

Holy hell that woman is badass. The band is awesome but that bassist is carrying quite a bit of the sonic burden and does it exceptionally well.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Modified (added bridge pickup) Squier Classic Vibe Precision Bass:



Even when they were already famous, Joe Dart kept playing his first bass live, an Olympic White MiM Fender Jazz Bass.

The Squiers and Cort in the Vulfpeck videos belong to Jack Stratton I believe…

Thought he was born with sunglasses attached to his face …

 

[P-Belly Evans]

Holy hell that woman is badass. The band is awesome but that bassist is carrying quite a bit of the sonic burden and does it exceptionally well.

Absolutely. Her use and control of the pedal board is proper top drawer. That use of the octaver (if that is what it is???) is amazing and grooves like hell.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

define 'cheap'. Like, inexpensive? Because back in the day, instruments were relatively affordable compared to what they cost today. A used Fender at a cheap price wasn't that unheard of in the 70s and early 80s.

 

[DaveParker39]

Lots of classic recordings on department store instruments- Jimmy Reed, Lightnin' Hopkins come to mind. Lots of aforementioned Sun Records recordings.

 

[Killing Floor]

Please tell me you’re joking.

About what was a $45 guitar? Those basses are cool because McCartney played one. Those basses are valuable now because McCartney played one. But when he bought it, it was the cheapest he could find.

 

[ProbablyTooLoud]

Prince's Hohner Tele.

 

[pbass2]

Also any number of classic reggae and dub recordings from Jamaica. Not only was lots of the gear cheap, they had to make some of it 'cause they couldn't get better stuff!

 

[petermwright]

About what was a $45 guitar? Those basses are cool because McCartney played one. Those basses are valuable now because McCartney played one. But when he bought it, it was the cheapest he could find.

No, I know that - I meant the Billy Shears/McCartney Paul is Dead thing.

 

[Tom Bomb]

Some say Jimmy Page would use an EKO Ranger at times — cheap as chips, back then. They say, one can be heard on this track. I wonder. I wonder does it matter?​

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This must've cost a pretty penny to produce.

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And check out this array of sordid old machines, like the Harmony Stratotone in the deft hands of Marc Ribot. He caused me to get a Les Paul Special, didn't break the bank. A Melody Maker would've been even better. Mustn't complain​

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[farace]

I’m not going to read through five pages of responses; I’ll mention the Flying Lizards (I once read that some of the sounds on “Money” were made by throwing rubber toys into a toy piano, I never verified that), and there was an alternative band in the ‘80s named Pianosaurus that played on toy instruments.

 

[Michedelic]

David Lindley (worked with Warren Zevon and many others) has a notorious taste for odd old crappy guitars, making them sound great...

Back in 1981 (I think.)............David Lindley and El Rayo-X did an album purposely recorded with cheap equipment.

It's a pretty good album but as for great?.........I don't know.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Thanks. I didn't know about David Lindley equipment.

Lindley had a lot of work done on those Teiscos; he showed me some things at an El Rayo-X gig in the 80’s. Some of the upgrades might have been done through The Folk Store in Claremont, CA(a college town east of LA, he taught there)owned by Ben Harper’s mother, and then later by Bill Asher(son of actress Elizabeth Montgomery), a luthier in Santa Monica. He’s moved on to issuing his own brand of instruments.

Folk Music Center

Masterfully Hand Crafting Guitars in California Since 1982
About Us

 

[MDBass]

Conscious Club sounds very much like a Stingray to me. He's also playing one in an early video, possibly Fugue State if I remember correctly, but that doesn't necessarily mean he used one on the recording. I'd bet money that Conscious Club was done with a Stingray or Stingray type bass.

The Carlo Robelli is a Stingray type bass, at least the one I’ve seen used in their videos.

 

[Michedelic]

No! That's "cheap music, recorded on great instruments"

Still mad that they killed hair metal?