Jacos Bass of Doom

[bassgod76]

Has anyone from Talkbass ever thought about doing a proper sit down interview with Kevin Kaufman about his time with Jaco?

It would make for very interesting reading - not only for the insight into the man as a musician (as opposed to the heavy Milkowski stuff which guys like Metheny find very misrepresentative and sensationalist) but for technical insights into his gear - bass, amp and recording sessions etc

C

I will see him a lot in November (I have a ton of work for him). I remember when he took 20 minutes out of his time to tell me about Jaco, I felt so honored. There's stuff I have to ask him about Jaco after reading the Milkowski book. I have to say that Kevin has always been gracious with his time regarding Jaco questions, and he also does incredible work.

 

[babaseen]

Any info from Mr Kaufman would be of value...please post

Interesting...

http://www.rantrave.com/Rave/Young-and-Fine.aspx

 

[bassgod76]

A funny Jaco story Kevin told me was about when Jaco smashed the BOD into pieces.

So Jaco calls me and is like, "Hey Kevin, my bass doesn't sound right for some reason, and I only trust you to work on it, man." So I say, "Sure, send it down." I get this medium size box that in no way could house an assembled bass. I open it up and the bass is in pieces, like it was smashed. It took Jim Hamiton and I so many man hours to repair that he could've acquired three new basses for the same price.

"Hey Kevin, my bass doesn't sound right for some reason." That is priceless!!!!!

 

[sloasdaylight]

Lol, that's pretty funny.

 

[ikinaceous]

How could Jaco keep his singled bridge pup so quiet for live and recordings? I can't imagine the ground noise and 60 cycle hum was any better in the 70s...

clues anyone?

 

[eastcoasteddie]

Zombie thread revival...!!!

So I've been thinking about the bass of doom and it's control section, specifically:

I know that Jaco's bass originally had the stacked knob design, but he switched to the modern 3 pot design because it was too dark sounding with 4 pots loading down the circuit.

It's plausible though.

I found another thread here on TB that lists all the Jazz bass caps through the years; here is the list:
1961 .05 50v SK VVT orange

1962 concentric bridge .033 neck .05

1962 .05 50v SK orange VVT

1963 .05 50v SK orange

1963 .05 ceramic Circle D 50v +/- 20% mustard

1964 .02 ceramic SK +/- 10% orange

1964 .05 ceramic Circle D 50v +80-20 mustard

1964 .05 ceramic Circle D 50v +/-20% mustard

1965 .05 ceramic Circle D 50v +/-20% mustard

1965 .02 ceramic 10% SK orange

1966 .05 ceramic Circle D 50v +80-20 mustard

1966 .02 ceramic 20% AE IKV orange - Aluminum Electrolytic

1968 .022 Ajax blue molded film Polystyrene cylinder .022 100 10%

1968 .022 tropical fish polyester film, 250v, +/-10% Mullard

1969 .022 tropical fish polyester film, 100V, +/-20% Mullard

1969 .022 Ajax blue molded film polystyrene cylinder

1970 .05 ceramic Circle D 50v +/- 20% mustard

1970 .022 Ajax blue molded film polystyrene cylinder?

1971 .022 ITW silver .022 +/-20% 50v polyester and foil?

1972 .022 ITW silver .022 +/-20% 50v polyester and foil?

1973 .022 blue barrel and.022 silver

* blue molded ITW .022 +/-10% 200v

* ITW silver .022 +/-20% 50v

1974 .022 blue molded ITW +/-10% 200v

1977 .022 blue molded Mylar??

1978 .022 blue molded

1982 .022 200DC +/-10% circle 2 225PX Mylar orange drop Sprague

1983 .022 200DC +/-10% circle 2 225PX Mylar orange drop Sprague

So since the bass of doom was a '62 with stack-pots and he changed to a VVT, what tone cap did he use? In what year was this done? Did he get a pre-wired plate from Fender or have one built by Kevin Kaufman? I couldn't find ANY info on this on TB or the 'net as a whole...

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Nope, the neck PUP WAS connected. Listen and watch him on the Joni Mitchell performances on her DVD "Shadows and Light". He's turning the PUPs up and down a lot on that.

jte

Right you are.

 

[DarkStar90]

How could Jaco keep his singled bridge pup so quiet for live and recordings? I can't imagine the ground noise and 60 cycle hum was any better in the 70s...

clues anyone?

He didn't. There was nothing special about his bass other than it was his, and anyone who has played through an Acoustic 360 will tell you that they were noisy as hell when idling. The only thing he could do would be to use the tone knob to hide some hum. Single coil hum is often overthought, and is never heard in the mix. People still listen to Jimi Hendrix without a problem, and he used single coils whenever he used a strat.