FINALLY an objective explanation of mid scoop. Now I would like definitions of : bark, grunt, warm, round,
organic, punch, zing and all the other words tossed around to try to describe tone.
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What does an authentic Jazz bass really sound like? Small rant warning.
- Thread starter CaribooBass
- Start date
organic, punch, zing and all the other words tossed around to try to describe tone.
Couple nuances that need to be addressed with this response:
1) The car that was the “predecessor” to the Mustang was the Ford Falcon.
2) The Mercury Comet was the fancier more upscale version of the Ford Falcon.
3) The Mustang was not a body dropped on a frame. The Falcon, Comet, and Mustang were the same platform - which is to say they were all smaller unibody cars that didn’t have frames. There are frame rails, but the unibody design is what tied them together. A lot of the same parts including motors are cross compatible between Falcon and Mustangs.
I realize this is off topic from the original post, but as Falcon driver, I couldn’t resist.
Back on topic, I like my jazz bass.
As to what is that "Jazz Bass tone?". Timothy B. Schmidt (Eagles) used a stock Jbass on most of the Eagles records and CD's and I consider his tone classic Jbass. Markus Miller, on the other hand, modified his to give him his signature slap tone. Geddy Lee (Rush) runs his through processors to give it that solid bottom end with some distortion (hair) on the top end. And, it all depends on whether you have both pups on full or have them rolled to the neck or bridge. Last but not least, it depends on the vintage of the Jbass. The early ones have the bridge pups closer to the neck and the 70's to present models moved the bridge pup closer to the bridge. Also the early models had a stacked volume/ tone for each pup. Like I wrote earlier, it depends.
My 5 string Jazz Basses
My 5 string Jazz Basses
It's those single coil pickups. Put them both on full and you won't notice it as much...
For the audio engineering class (the second of two I took at OSU) the students had to do a recording project. Most (pretty much all of them) went out to clubs or bars to record a band playing, but my friend Steve and I had written the basics of "Time Machine" in the Fall of 1974, the two main guitar parts, and over the years he wrote the lyrics and I wrote additional guitar parts and the main bass line and, eventually, the synth parts on a friend's Electrcomp 500 that I borrowed for a while, so I decided to make the song my project.
We had a professional 16-track recording studio at our disposal for free
, so my friends and I and a few other students spent two days at the studio. First day was setup and tracking, the second day was a bit more recording (one synth part that I wrote but was too fast for me to play cleanly at tempo, and the piano which was a last second addition to the song [thanks, Isaac!]), then mixdown/mastering. Given more time (we didn't really have a time machine around 
) there are some minor things I would have done a bit differently regarding the mix, but I can't complain, we did a pretty good job for the short time we had available to us.Yes, the AV '62 Jazz Bass had concentric controls; I removed the detented washers so the tone controls worked more smoothly. An old friend of mine probably still has her original stack-knob Jazz Bass (a white one IIRC, I haven't seen or played it since the mid '70s) that she got as a young teenager in the '60s.
There is a very interesting mix of Jazz and Rick tone to that Jazz Bass that I put the hi-gain in. Tremendous sound, actually, IMO. For the recording, the bass was run through my (at the time) amp, a '70s Furman green-face PQ-3 > Crown D150A > custom built (by my brother) cabinet with an Altec 421A driver, mic'ed with an AKG 414. My friend who has the bass (Isaac) also has that speaker cabinet these days.
The "Taurus" pedals is the Electrcomp 500; I played those and most of the other synth parts.
I got a A in that class.
The little brown truck dropped this off to me just a while ago. It sucks. Can’t wait to rip out those worn out pickups and slap a badass bridge on this baby…
- Aug 21, 2003
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I’m not sure if this was mentioned since I did read every post.
The Fender Stratocaster is one of the most popular guitars ever played at this point in time.
Now think about this.
Many of them sound perfectly fine just stock and many of them sound just as good modified.
On that note, now think of how many versions of strats have been produced from other companies that are successful.
Excellent post by my fellow Lull stable mate @Geri O
The Fender Stratocaster is one of the most popular guitars ever played at this point in time.
Now think about this.
Many of them sound perfectly fine just stock and many of them sound just as good modified.
On that note, now think of how many versions of strats have been produced from other companies that are successful.
Excellent post by my fellow Lull stable mate @Geri O
The sarcasm is strong with you!
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Sorry; can't help ya. I've never owned a Jazz Bass - Fender or otherwise - 'cause I don't like them. Has nothing to do with the pickups; it's the offset body shape of the things that bugs the bejeezus out of me. Currently, I own 5 basses with dual single coil pickups; 2 basses with dual humbuckers that can both be split into single coils; and a Kramer "Duke" with a Schaller "Twin J" pickup, that can be switched to run the bridge half - like the bridge pickup on a Jazz Bass. So, I'm perfectly fine with the dual SC pickup thing. I don't even mind the "can't turn 'em both up all the way or you lose volume" thing. All of my dual-SC, non-JB's seem to do that, too... I just crank one pickup to about 9 1/2 (usually - but not always - the neck pickup), and crank the other one up to taste. Which has always worked for me...
As for "everybody" modifying/changing their Jazz Bass? I don't think they get modified/changed any more often than any other bass. It's just that there are an awful lot of people who simply can't leave well enough alone - coupled with an awful lot of Jazz Basses for them to satisfy their tinkering urges with. Personally? Other than changing strings, or fixing stuff that actually needs fixing? None of my 24 basses have been modified - at all. I do have one bass that's the designated "let's try this, and see what happens" sacrificial lamb; and, one that was a wreck when I bought it - and intended solely as a "project" bass. All the others? Just as they came from the factory...
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For the audio engineering class (the second of two I took at OSU) the students had to do a recording project. Most (pretty much all of them) went out to clubs or bars to record a band playing, but my friend Steve and I had written the basics of "Time Machine" in the Fall of 1974, the two main guitar parts, and over the years he wrote the lyrics and I wrote additional guitar parts and the main bass line and, eventually, the synth parts on a friend's Electrcomp 500 that I borrowed for a while, so I decided to make the song my project.
We had a professional 16-track recording studio at our disposal for free
Yes, the AV '62 Jazz Bass had concentric controls; I removed the detented washers so the tone controls worked more smoothly. An old friend of mine probably still has her original stack-knob Jazz Bass (a white one IIRC, I haven't seen or played it since the mid '70s) that she got as a young teenager in the '60s.
There is a very interesting mix of Jazz and Rick tone to that Jazz Bass that I put the hi-gain in. Tremendous sound, actually, IMO. For the recording, the bass was run through my (at the time) amp, a '70s Furman green-face PQ-3 > Crown D150A > custom built (by my brother) cabinet with an Altec 421A driver, mic'ed with an AKG 414. My friend who has the bass (Isaac) also has that speaker cabinet these days.
The "Taurus" pedals is the Electrcomp 500; I played those and most of the other synth parts.
I got a A in that class.
I am not surprised you got an A..... its one hell of an accomplishment the work and effort that went into every aspect of it!!!! There was lots of heavy machinery that went into it it seems, haha.
Those Electrocomp 500's are beautiful looking things, I bet they are heavy though. Maybe its a good idea to go and visit your friend to see if she still has her stack-control jazz bass too! I am truly genuinely impressed even blown away by the work you put into this track and I really appreciate you sharing this with me.
I think that the reason Jaco replaced his stack-controls on his 62 with the controls from a precision bass was because of the "cogwheel" like movement and he preferred the smoothness as you say to the controls.
That’s one of the best looking tort guards I’ve ever laid eyes on.
But in keeping with how Jazz basses suck until you mod them, you should definitely consider replacing it with something like a jack daniels logo guard or maybe go Jaco and just throw it out.
Thanks, it was a lot of fun to do.
I can ask Marilyn if she would donate it to a good cause (tax write-off and all). I better get my 501(c)(3) going!
Not very heavy at all, as I recall. It's pretty compact in real life.
IIRC, there are different kinds of pickup interactions going on with the two different control layouts. I think most people actually prefer the 3-knob harness for that reason. What's interesting to me is that CLF originally used a 3-knob harness design for the prototype Jazz Bass, then went to the concentric pots for production in the beginning.
