Jeff Berlin's tone on Bill Bruford recording

[JimK]

I'm not terribly familiar with Jeff Berlin's work (yet), but I just heard the song "Joe Frazier" from Bill Buford's band, and man, I love that tone.

Another to check out-
Spice Of Life- Kazumi Watanabe (guitarist) with Berlin/Bruford.


Nice info on Berlin's gear...during an early '80s clinic, he was playing a Yamaha prototype bass. Same clean tone. IIRC, this was prior to Yamaha going online with bass gear, although I do recall a late '70s Chuck Rainey Guitar Player magazine interview & he mentioned a Yamaha prototype that was everything his Fender was + more...and that he intended to use it forever.

 

[zombywoof5050]

(More trivia: By the mid 1980s he'd apparently replaced the Fender neck on one of those (the P, I think) with a custom-made Mike Tobias neck.)

That neck that MT made for Jeff had an extra fret, and at the time I thought that was so cool that I called MT and asked if he would make me a neck like that. Michael said "sorry, but that was just a 'one-off' that I did for Jeff and I won't make any more".

 

[Bass_Thumper]

Thanks Bass Thumper, I will give your settings a try.

Off-topic: How do you like that 55-01? I've been eyeing a couple of used ones.

I really, really like it. I like a wider neck and I have large hands so it just feels really good to me. I picked it up used with all the plastic wrap still on it for $600 and it's the best buy that I've ever found. I play it stock; the only thing that I've changed is putting DR Black Beauties on it. Go and play one if you get a chance. It is a 35 inch scale but I go back and forth between it and a 4 string 34 inch scale without having to alter my playing.

 

[EricOnTheBass]

I really, really like it. I like a wider neck and I have large hands so it just feels really good to me. I picked it up used with all the plastic wrap still on it for $600 and it's the best buy that I've ever found. I play it stock; the only thing that I've changed is putting DR Black Beauties on it. Go and play one if you get a chance. It is a 35 inch scale but I go back and forth between it and a 4 string 34 inch scale without having to alter my playing.

I like 4-string spacing too, that's kind of what turns me off to a lot of the fivers and sixers out there. I REALLY want a Yamaha TRB6PII, but those are pretty pricey. I'll see if I can get my hands on a 55-01 to try out.

Back on topic, I tried out the settings you recommended and got a pretty nice tone. I just have to get used to playing near the bridge, I normally rest my thumb on the neck pickup.

 

[Arnold]

This vid has the bass that I think of as Jeff Berlin's pre Dean and Peavey basses.

 

[ChrisGuerre]

i was a student of Jeff's, he'd always tell me to roll off my bridge pickup and use a blend with my neck pickup. Lakland MM bridge/J neck

 

[BassyBill]

I saw Jeff with Bruford on the Gradually Going Tornado tour (on a double bill with Brand X and the great Percy Jones, would you believe?) and I'm pretty sure Jeff used the black Jazz with the Badass bridge for the whole set. I remember his tone was superb, really powerful and clear. I never clocked the fact that he'd swapped out the pickups, but I think most of what I heard was just Jeff Berlin, if you get what I'm saying.

 

[jeff7bass]

His tone on the first 3 Bruford albums is fantastic. I remember reading an article a long time ago where he said he mic'd a 12" combo in the studio and that was it. Since it was 1977 when Feels Good To Me came out, I'm guessing it was an Ampeg. Checkout his playing on this song.
BILL BRUFORD . IF YOU CAN'T STAND THE HEAT . FEELS GOOD TO ME . I LOVE MUSIC - YouTube

 

[jeff7bass]

I saw Jeff with Bruford on the Gradually Going Tornado tour (on a double bill with Brand X and the great Percy Jones, would you believe?) and I'm pretty sure Jeff used the black Jazz with the Badass bridge for the whole set. I remember his tone was superb, really powerful and clear. I never clocked the fact that he'd swapped out the pickups, but I think most of what I heard was just Jeff Berlin, if you get what I'm saying.

I saw that tour but if was just them on July the 5th at the Park West in Chicago. Great show but Holdsworth was gone by then. When I saw Brand X there around the same time, they opened for Sea Level who was also extraordinary. Those were the days!

 

[NoiseNinja]

I wish I had just stuck to watching videos of him playing, damn is that man fantastic, and not any of his "educational" videos, damn is that man horrible.

Well, I guess nobody is flawless, though some are definitely more extreme than others.

A living paradox for sure.

 

[sturoc]

I chased the Jeff Berlin tone for years in the 80s. From 'Feels Good to Me' - 'One of a Kind' - 'Gradually...' his tone is punchy deep mid.
Sometimes he went a little crispy for the occasional slap like on 5G. Overall his tone was very upfront.
Have only seen him play his old black Jazz bass, the P bass was a backup it seemed.

Missed out on buying vintage Hi-A pickups several times so always on the hunt for the originals.
Early 80s w / Holdsworth JB used Alembic preamp - Yamaha power amps - 2 Yamaha 2x15 cabs that sat in their flight case trays (w/ casters)
I have a photo of this somewhere....

Note: During that time he recommended Bass players to ck out Trombone charts as they were part of his early influence.
So I did and wow what an eye opener for improving one's phrasing and style.

 

[Michedelic]

I don’t know if this stuff was available on YT back when this thread was started, so here ya go…



The lesser known keyboard player, Dave Stewart(not the Eurythmics guy)came from one of my favorite mid-70’s prog bands, Hatfield and the North, whose bassist, Richard Sinclair, while having a style very different from Berlin, was no slouch himself.

 

[Bob_Ross]

& Jeff has always favored chorus efx. I don't recall which brands/models he uses.

I saw a clinic Jeff gave at the Berklee College of Music shortly after Gradually Going Tornado was released (so 1980 or '81?) and at that time he insisted that he hated chorus effects, and that the chorusing on the tune "Palewell Park" was added by the recording engineer, not something Jeff had chosen.

He obviously came to terms with that sound subsequently

a few years ago, BB played here in a small intimate setting. He had a fill in bass player who got the charts a few hrs. earlier. It turned out the fill in was Mike Pope, and it sounded like he had been with BB for years.

Sometime in the early 00's (before Bill retired from performing) I saw him in NYC with the Earthworks Underground Orchestra, a ~13-piece big band of local pros reading charts that saxophonist Tim Garland had arranged of Earthworks tunes from all stages of that band's repertoire. Mike Pope was again in the bass chair, and killing it on both upright and 6-string electric.

Early 80s w / Holdsworth JB used Alembic preamp - Yamaha power amps - 2 Yamaha 2x15 cabs that sat in their flight case trays (w/ casters)

I saw Holdsworth/Berlin/Wackerman/Williams on that 1983 (?) tour and Jeff was using a Yamaha PB-1 preamp along with the aforementioned power amp and dual 2x15 cabs.

 

[PhR75]

The lesser known keyboard player, Dave Stewart(not the Eurythmics guy)came from one of my favorite mid-70’s prog bands, Hatfield and the North, whose bassist, Richard Sinclair, while having a style very different from Berlin, was no slouch himself.

Stewart also had National Health after Hatfield & The North and Bruford liked their "The Bryden 2-Step" so much he wanted it's theme quoted on "Land's End". Of course Bill had played with the Health too in 1976.
National Health also had great bass players: Mont Campbell, Neil Murray and John Greaves. Needless to say I love Richard Sinclair too.

I wish Bruford had used Annette Peacock again for vocals on "Gradually Going Tornado". Berlin ain't no Sinclair when it comes to singing.

 

[Gluvhand]

Stewart also had National Health after Hatfield & The North and Bruford liked their "The Bryden 2-Step" so much he wanted it's theme quoted on "Land's End". Of course Bill had played with the Health too in 1976.
National Health also had great bass players: Mont Campbell, Neil Murray and John Greaves. Needless to say I love Richard Sinclair too.

I wish Bruford had used Annette Peacock again for vocals on "Gradually Going Tornado". Berlin ain't no Sinclair when it comes to singing.

There's a clip out there on the 'Tube of Bruford's band on the Old Grey Whistle Test and Berlin couldn't make it. Neil Murray filled in and, IMO, did a great job. I've read an interview he did where he said he was basically stretched to the limit of his ability with Buford. His work with Colosseum II was also top notch. There's a mention of Murray on the back or credits of the Bruford album. I think he was involved in rehearsals when Berlin wasn't available.

 

[jerry]

There's a clip out there on the 'Tube of Bruford's band on the Old Grey Whistle Test and Berlin couldn't make it. Neil Murray filled in and, IMO, did a great job. I've read an interview he did where he said he was basically stretched to the limit of his ability with Buford. His work with Colosseum II was also top notch. There's a mention of Murray on the back or credits of the Bruford album. I think he was involved in rehearsals when Berlin wasn't available.

I heard some of the Murray stuff with Bruford, I thought he sounded great with them.

 

[Bob_Ross]

National Health also had great bass players: Mont Campbell, Neil Murray and John Greaves.

The same John Greaves who played with Henry Cow?

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

I've attended some of his workshops and got to meet him in person. While I really like his playing, I was not a fan of his tone. He used a signature Cort bass w a Markbass cab that sounded boomy and muddy to me. But tone is very subjective..

 

[PhR75]

The same John Greaves who played with Henry Cow?

Yes indeed. He replaced Neil Murray in late '77 and played on their second album. Great composer, I wish they had recorded this in the studio too.

 

[Michedelic]

Stewart also had National Health after Hatfield & The North and Bruford liked their "The Bryden 2-Step" so much he wanted it's theme quoted on "Land's End". Of course Bill had played with the Health too in 1976.
National Health also had great bass players: Mont Campbell, Neil Murray and John Greaves. Needless to say I love Richard Sinclair too.

I wish Bruford had used Annette Peacock again for vocals on "Gradually Going Tornado". Berlin ain't no Sinclair when it comes to singing.

Yeah, I could have mentioned NH, but then I’d run the risk of going down the Canterbury and related rabbit hole for explanation, where I’d need one of those Pete Frame diagrams. I was just trying to stay on point.