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Jaco-Tone: Do you really like it?

#41
Yeah, technically brilliant and an innovator, but I hate his tone (doesn't even sound like a bass to my ears), and the music around it, especially Weather Report, sounds trite--sort or self-indulgent "new age" jazz. All that horrible Zawinul meandering. Yech. I already know how to wank, I don't particularly want to have to listen to someone else going at it.
 
#42
I didn't his tone on modern electric bass at all. On the recordings of his i have it does seem to work. Definately prefer to hear more bottom end, in general.
I've been learning P.O.T. recently, and i can hear it all clearly when playing unplugged, i'd argue that it isn't neccessarily essential to get a midrangy tone to play harmonics.
 
#43
When I was about 18 or 19 in the early 90s, I started checking out a lot of fusion and jazz players of the day. I always wondered why they had such a thin, weak bridge pick-up tone. I was kind of shocked when I figured out they were trying to sound like Jaco, because when he did it, it sounded good.

I actually like to use that tone when I'm in a situation with a loud maximum-gain distorted guitar (or 2). I'm a fan of low-mids, so when I go to the bridge pick-up it has more of a blunt reaction. Like some one poking you in the arm with their finger.
 
#45
Wow, 3 pages of replies and not one off-topic bashing of his music, nor any "How dare you" replies! Thanks everyone, I knew you could do it!

So it appears we're about evenly split. And yes, I know Jaco had more tones than just the neck PU rolled off, but let's face it...the bridge PU on a fretless IS Jaco-Tone, and for the sake of this discussion it's the tone to which I'm referring.

But I think we can all agree that in the hands of others, Jaco-Tone is not good.
 
#47
I've heard Jaco-tone sound great for other players if it fits the bill. The problem is it's hard to hear it and not think of Jaco. It's even harder not to be prejudiced the second you hear someone using that tone and not dismiss them as an imitator. Jazz basses are so prevalent that it's unrealistic to expect people to never run the bridge pup solo just to avoid sounding like Jaco.

I love Jaco doing Jaco's tone. I have the ability to like others sounding the same way. It can be a very fat, warm tone that really gets the notes out there so people can actually hear them. To me, that should make it a very valid option for anyone to use, even if it does mean they risk being called an impersonator.
 
#48
I really like Jaco's tone.... and in general i prefer a bridge pup tone with a little low mid burpiness. It's just where i feel right, OTOH i really enjoy a nice fat P pup tone as well. I would hate to think that anyone playing with the bridge pup being the main output will be accused of "imitating" Jaco. I guess subconciously i might be trying to imitate Jaco when using a bridge pup but i don't think so. Anyways, I agree with alot of the opinions being expressed in this thread.
 
#49
Red Wonder said:
That tone he has throughout Metheny's 'Bright Size Life' is the stuff of legends. Articulate and technical yet emotional and spirited. Bob Moses says that the album didn't capture the energy of that trio like the live act did. That it didn't capture the essence or the concept of what that trio was really doing. I would have LOVED to see that tour!
Click to expand...

I don't think they ever toured. That trio played a series of club dates at Michael's Pub in Boston in late 1975. I was in Boston at the time but did not go -- one of the bigger regrets of my life.
 
#50
i think one of the main songs that everyone thinks of when referring to the "Jaco tone" is teentown, and if that is what you mean then i agree, it isnt a good "Bass" tone at all but on that tune he wasnt really playing "basslines"

one more thing, as far as i know the man never recorded using his amp, he always went direct, and like has been said before the stuff he did with Joni, Pat Metheny, Flora Purim, Mike Stern and Ian Hunter to name a few has great tones which are real fat and still very articulate, and as for his live tone, the man died before i was even born so i never heard it 1st hand but after watching the Shadows and Light dvd with Joni Mitchell, if his live tone was mostly like that then WOW!


Dave
 
#53
cool to know that, to be honest that is the only real thin tone i can think of thats on record, i guess the tone on his solo debut is a little small if you get what i mean but not really thin. i definetely wouldnt say the Teentown tone was his tone, but the one that i hear being coppied the most.


Dave
 
#56
I enjoy Jaco's tone . I read a quote about Jaco where is said no one in that day had experimented with the bridge pickup . Everybody either soloed the neck pickup or blasted both .I think in his early years (Solo album , Joni Mitchell , Weather Report, Metheny) his tone sounds great. When he started using different amps in the last few years of his life it stunk. His sound almost sounds as if it had its good days and its bad days. I love its warmth on songs like Continuum(solo album) , cannonball(black MArket) , and songs with Joni mitchell. I think his tone sounds perfect on his solo album. Also remember the stuff you hear on his albums isnt his Acoustic 360. He always recorded straight into the board.
 
#57
I much prefer Jaco's tone on "The Birthday Concert" record as opposed to any of his other released. Obviously, the whole thing is bolstered by the fact that it's a live performance, Jaco is on fire and he is dropping his faux-improv licks left, right and center; but I just think his tone sounds so vibrant and musical.
 
#58
Love his tone or not, I think most of us wouldn't mind if thirty years down the line bassist were discussing any-of-our-first-names-tone on a bass board.;)
 
#59
I love the sounds and tones Jaco used to coax out of his fretless. And I wish when I tried to approximate that sound myself, I could live with using it, but I can't. The tone I seem most content with is the Bernard Edward/Jamerson/Duck Dunn throbby type tone, big fat bass.
 
#60
Here's my take on it. For Jaco, that tone worked. Everyone knew that was his voice. It seriously cut through the mix, and was a good supporting tone when playing with a big band with horns. However, I too have experimented with the bridge pup tone and not only has it been annoying to my ears, it makes the music itself sound a way which I don,t appreciate. I think Jaco's sound was a direct reflection of his hands and style of playing (harmonics, stacatto burp, rapid 16ths and faster) as well as providing a woody tone. Just my opinion, works for Jaco and his music, but certainly not for me, AND IN NO WORLD CAN I COMPARE MYSELF TO JACO.
thanks
 

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