How to get a tone like Jack Bruce (Cream)

[Aussie Player]

Something else.....
Jack Bruce's playing style changed dramatically when he went over the Warwick Basses.

In the 60's he used the Gibson EB3 set on Varitone 2 position which is the treble pick up and he played light gauge labella flat wound strings. His style included lots of bending and vibrato so he was a true pioneer of the bass guitar.
When he changed to Warwick, he had input to the guitar he has, which his not made from the wood selections on production basses (Recall his was rosewood) and he moved up to medium rounds .050 - .105 which are very stiff so the vibrato and bending ceased from his playing. He is still wonderful to watch as we are very lucky Cream did the reunion concern.

 

[walking Bass]

I played in a power trio back in '68 with an EB-2 and Fender Dual Showman with 2x15. I had my own tone, but it was similar to Bruce's. Same now when I use an SG with GK400RB/410. It's rounder than I can achieve with my other basses. I don't prefer it for everything, but it has it's place. When I play the Gibson's I too play more bends and vibrato than I do with a Fender Mustang or Sadowsky NYC. That's why I have multiple basses.

I remember a surprised feeling I had when I picked up an ES-335, bent a string and thought "Wow, sounds more like BB King" than when I did the same thing on a Strat. Of course, it did, what should I have expected?

 

[Jeff Hughes]

I play my SG bass through a Danelectro Honeytone amp, and it sounds almost identical to the live tone on the bootleg live recordings of The Cream.

Of course I am being snarky.

 

[dougjwray]

Jack Bruce is one of my heroes, and to me, he's right up there with McCartney when it comes to monstrously talented singer/composer/multi-instrumentalists.
I can't help but think that (in his current residence in the Great Beyond) he must be pleasantly surprised and amused by this thread, since he was always quite apologetic about his pre-Warwick/Hartke sound. In interviews that I've read (and, I think, in his biography), he said that the primitive technology simply couldn't keep up. Ginger hated the volume levels, but Jack understood that for them to do what they needed to do as a trio, they had to be loud, and in those days you simply dimed the volume and waited for your equipment to crumble.

 

[FunkHead]

Whatever you have to do to hear yourself over the rest of the band. That’s your tone.

 

[marchone]

I caught Jack Bruce at BB King's a couple of years before he died. Joey Molland opened. The set list was all Cream. Godfrey Townsend played Clapton's parts flawlessly.

He played a Gibson through the house Hartke amps.

Jack Bruce Setlist at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, New York

 

[JimmyM]

This is a wonderfully accurate assessment except the Felix bass has been disputed many many times.

Tru dat. I came to find out it wasn't Felix' bass. But hey, I was just a kid back then...what did I know?

 

[DavidEdenAria]

Tru dat. I came to find out it wasn't Felix' bass. But hey, I was just a kid back then...what did I know?

Yea...rumor from a relative of Felix is his gear was either sold off or burned by his father soon after Felix wife murdered him.

Btw, imo if you play a neck only 'mudbucker' Gibson (or 65 Epiphone Newport like i do), play around with the polepiece height and install something like GHS Pressure Wounds (i did) to get a bit of zing over flats.

No excuse with all of the EQ on modern amps (or use an EQ on your board as well) to get enough top for Jacks sound....but do play around with the 'mudbucker' polepiece height...i lower mine quite a bit, cleaner and more articulate on my 65 Newport.