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How to get a tone like Jack Bruce (Cream)
- Thread starter Gearhead43
- Start date
Ya, I don't hear it myself. I hear a guy who plays busy and good, but I'd never mistake Andy Fraser for Jack Bruce.
I'll throw in 2 cents in to for the OP. The three most important things that I think will help to get close to that tone are a tube overdrive, finger hard and sharp close to the bridge, and mid EQ.
I never really thought of Andy Fraser as a busy player, I thought he always left a lot of space in his lines for the songs to groove. No matter, both players were huge influences on me as a young player, and I'm always happy when their names come up here at TB, especially Fraser.
According to your posts, he will sound like Jack Bruce playing on an EB-3 through a stack of Marshalls.
And if you wanted to get a sound similar to Jack Bruce playing a P into a Markbass- what would you do?
Listen to the tone of the bass. Not the playing. Don't focus on the lines, the runs, or the note choice- listen to the tone of the instrument through the amplifier.
What you replied to my post was:
Paraphrased as: 'Jack Bruce was playing in a different form 10 years after A Question In Time that was more in line with his Cream era style.' The clips I've seen of him with the All Starr band, and the one posted previously do not bear that out. Jack Bruce did not sound like he was playing an EB-3 through 2 stacks of Marshalls on any of the clips posted. Oddly enough, he wasn't.
Sorry but to me all of those things are in separable. The way Bruce attacks the notes, his note selection his attitude towards the bass all impact on the tone.
Last winter I saw Bob Babbitt and the Funk Brothers. Ya know he played his 'Toad Bass' thru a GK rig instead of a B15 and he sounded well, like Babbitt.
Two years ago, I saw Duck Dunn with Booker T and he also played a GK rig instead of his beloved SVT and you know he sounded like Duck Dunn.
I seen clips of Jaco playing an unknown bass thru a Hartke rig and he sounded just like Jaco to me.
To me these guys are able to dial in their sound by a combination of touch and experience no matter what their rig is. As I said earlier, I'm not suggesting that the rig makes 'no difference' but I sincerely believe that its a relatively minor component.
Sure. The burpy EB3 bridge pickup thru Marshall tone, the syncopations in his groove, yeah, I'd say he's from the JB school.
When I hear All Right Now, I think of the Badge side of JB.
Jack was very influential in the late 60's and early 70's and he did rub off on players.
When I hear All Right Now, I think of the Badge side of JB.
Jack was very influential in the late 60's and early 70's and he did rub off on players.
I mean this as an honest question- I know different people "hear" different things- but do the YouTube clips of Sunshine of Your Love in 1968, 1993 and 2005 sound the same to you? Is the bass sound the same to you?
Songs like Stealer's Wheel's "Stuck In The Middle" or Ozzy's Crazy Train are also "similar" sounds- and again, it's no surprise that they're played on EB basses...
I'm sure Andy Fraser tried to cop aspects of his playing. I'm just saying that Andy Fraser sounds different because he's not Jack Bruce. Andy Fraser took his influences and became his own bass player.
Here's other examples of players who (to me) copped a Jack Bruce rock vibe for a song (though not as close a tone as Fraser):
Otherside (Chili Peppers) - check out the bridge section (just the bridge). Flea launches into a very Brucey riff (and fills) with a distorted mid-heavy tone, plucking hard towards the bridge. Chad Smith even rides his toms a' la Ginger Baker.
That little segment is a real departure for Flea.
Crazy Train (Ozzy) - Bob Daisley's bass line and vibe on this song always sounded to me like a nod to Jack. The syncopations with the distorted tone create a great Brucey hook. Also both the spacing the hammering runs in the pre-chorus. The bass line makes that song.
Otherside (Chili Peppers) - check out the bridge section (just the bridge). Flea launches into a very Brucey riff (and fills) with a distorted mid-heavy tone, plucking hard towards the bridge. Chad Smith even rides his toms a' la Ginger Baker.
That little segment is a real departure for Flea.
Crazy Train (Ozzy) - Bob Daisley's bass line and vibe on this song always sounded to me like a nod to Jack. The syncopations with the distorted tone create a great Brucey hook. Also both the spacing the hammering runs in the pre-chorus. The bass line makes that song.
I didn't see this when I was typing my last post. I see someone else made the Crazy Train connection.
I didn't know Daisley used an EB3 for that though I did read he used a Marshall head and 4x12.
I didn't know Daisley used an EB3 for that though I did read he used a Marshall head and 4x12.
BTW, my gig got cancelled tonight (due to the snowstorm) so I'm talking Jack Bruce on TalkBass.
Anyone else in the same boat?
Anyone else in the same boat?
But is it the same bass tone?
And the simple answer is "no." The three later clips of Bruce post 1993 all have had him playing Warwicks through Hartke rigs- and that rig sounds nothing like the Jack Bruce rig of 1968. Other bass players that have used similar rigs, such as Felix Papalardi, Andy Fraser, Tony Williams and Bob Daisley have very similar tones to Bruce's Cream era tone- and they all played EB basses through big tube rigs.
The title of this thread, and the ongoing premise of the thread is "How To Get A Tone Like Jack Bruce (Cream)." In the OP's words: "is there a good way to approximate a tone similar to... Jack Bruce Cream era."
To that end "What will get you closest to sounding like Jack Bruce is playing like Jack Bruce" is not a good answer. The OP is in the neighborhood with the bass- what he needs to do is EQ with more emphasis in the low mids, lower the lows and highs- and add some gain. Some things, like the effects of 25w 12" speakers in a sealed cab would be nice- but it's farther down the ladder as far as getting new gear to reproduce those sounds go... You can approximate that through EQ.
Sure did!!!
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KNAC.COM: To my ear, you can tell that the same individuals were involved in the recording of the discs, but sonically there is something different between the two -- did you use a different studios for each session?
DAISLEY: Well, for a start, Randy had some different guitars for the second album than on the first one and I used a different bass and a different amp on the second one. On the first one I used a Gibson EB3 through a Marshall head which was one of Randys 100 Watt guitar heads and a 4x12 cabinet whereas on the second one I used my 61 Fender P bass through an SVT with an 8x10 Ampeg and that would give it a different sound for a start.
If you go back a little further in the thread, you can see that I said Jack at the reunion did not sound exactly like the younger Cream Jack Bruce. You're arguing with the wrong guy.
You're also seemingly deliberately misinterpreting Jimmy and Pedro. If not deliberate, my apologies.
You're also seemingly deliberately misinterpreting Jimmy and Pedro. If not deliberate, my apologies.
