JACK BRUCE- what bass and mainly what strings did Jack Bruce use?

[Lonesomedave]

howdy:

I believe Jack Bruce played a Gibson EB-3 bass with Cream.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

what I want to know is, what kind of strings did he use. roundwounds or flatwounds. I am not sure how common round wound strings were back then, but would love input from anyone who knows.

also, what KIND of strings were they... rotosounds? and if you know, not only what brand, but which model.

thanks,
/s/ Dave

 

[One Drop]

I believe he played LaBella flats on that bass. hard to tell because of the amount of distortion in his sound, but the earlier stuff he did is cleaner and sounds like flats.

He stresses often that tone is in your fingers. I would say his unique RH style combined with his superb LH technique and distortion is what gets him his sound, his strings probably account for less of his overall tone than many other bassists' do.

He plays S.I.T medium rounds now, FWIW.

 

[Ric5]

Jack also played a Fender VI in Cream.

More about Jack's gear here --->>> http://www.jackbruce.com/2008/Gear/gear.htm

 

[Fly Guitars]

He certainly used Gibson EB3s live, but at least one album (Disraeli Gears) was a Danelectro Longhorn bass

 

[Bassamatic]

My Hero! I started playing about that time, so he influenced me greatly.

Everyone pretty much used flats until the later 60's when Roto brought out rounds. What's this noise? OH! it's highs!

 

[cc9191]

Here's jack bruce playing on zappas album in 1974. Brilliant bass line!

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Sounds like flats to me, but i'm not 100% on that, could be dead rounds with tone rolled off.

 

[JTE]

With Cream he started with the Bass VI. He used a Danelectro for recording parts of Disraeli Gears at least. His main bass until the late '70s was the EB-3. He also used a Dan Armstrong Plexiglass bass on occasion after Cream. He's used an Aria, a Spector, and said he tried out a StingRay. But he s used Warwicks for a good twenty years.

When he was interviewed in Guitar Player Magazine around '76 he said he used LaBella flats, light or medium depending on how he was feeling at the time. He's used SIT rounds for about two decades now.

You want to sound like him? Don't be afraid of mids, hit the strings hard, and get his hands.

John

 

[The_Phoenician]

His biography says that he originally used light-gauge LaBella flatwounds so that he could bend notes, then switched to SIT roundwounds, but it doesn't list a specific year.

 

[sailor645]

Everything I've seen indicates that his Warwicks were all fretless. No sense worrying about what strings we should use on our fretted basses.

 

[freshbass]

Here's jack bruce playing on zappas album in 1974. Brilliant bass line!



Sounds like flats to me, but i'm not 100% on that, could be dead rounds with tone rolled off.

I think that's tom fowler, and JB ony played on Apostrophe

 

[freshbass]

Here's jack bruce playing on zappas album in 1974. Brilliant bass line!



Sounds like flats to me, but i'm not 100% on that, could be dead rounds with tone rolled off.

jack only played on the title track, that's tom fowler on bass

 

[jasper383]

You want to sound like him? Don't be afraid of mids, hit the strings hard, and get his hands.

John

One thing that really struck me about his playing on the Reunion DVD was how hard he hit the strings.

 

[dougjwray]

Once, during the '70s, I saw him use a Fender Telecaster Bass.
But I love that he went from double bass to short scale electrics with light strings.
Definitely a true artist with his own approach. (And a musical genius, in my opinion.)