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what effects does jaco Pastorius use?
- Thread starter AudioOfTime
- Start date
bassman314
I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process...
I heard he had random wires that went nowhere, just to confuse his roadies and fans staring at his rig during shows.
He also re-wound his pick-ups with copper that he mined himself from the mountains of Tibet.
He also re-wound his pick-ups with copper that he mined himself from the mountains of Tibet.
Back in 1980 I had a 76 fretless P-Bass with an ash body. I modified it adding a Boogie Body Birdseye Maple neck with an ebony fretboard. I sunk in a Badass Bridge and added a brass nut. I switched out the stock fender pickups for Dimarzios and dropped in a Schecter Electonics very hot bridge pickup. I also added a phase switch to throw the two sets of pickups out of phase if I wanted to.
The result was Jaco's sound - without adding any external effects. Now a lot of it is coming from the sheer mass of the instrument. It is all very dense wood. Plus between the bridge and nut, the sustain is fantastic. Finally the Shecter bridge pickup is such a high gain unit that the sound I was looking for was finally achieved.
The harmonics on Portrait of Tracy rang like bells and I got the growl I needed. In addition, if I threw the pickups out of phase, softer melodic passages higher up on the neck were spot on.
That said, I can play like Jaco. My right hand doesn't stay in one place. If I want to play his very staccato style, my fingers are as close to the bridge as possible and I use the tips of my finger. If I want growl or play upper register melodic passages I play over the neck pickup and favor the softer pads of my fingers. So like others have said, it's not really effects that achieve his sound. It's the solidness of my bass, the hotness of my pickups and mostly, my technique.
I've been playing this way for over 35 years so all I can say is practice, practice, practice. Get sheet music to his songs and solos and work with them. You'll get there.
I heard he started out with no effects, just a fretless J and his hands. Later he got into all the effects but they were definitely secondary.
My favorite Jacob story was when he found out his wife (girlfriend?) was pregnant and he thought, I've gotta get serious about this and get good and provide for them. So he quit listening to music and started practicing and found his sound and changed the instrument.
My favorite Jacob story was when he found out his wife (girlfriend?) was pregnant and he thought, I've gotta get serious about this and get good and provide for them. So he quit listening to music and started practicing and found his sound and changed the instrument.
devnulljp
Supporting Member
Talkbass needs a tag that indicates when you want bass-cable-amp people to just stick out of threads. I thought that was one of the rules of the effects forum, oh well...
@Muzoid offered a good link.
So, if you do not want a full acoustic amp to lug along with you, there are alternatives.
There are Acoustic 360 preamps with the fuzz circuits available. DiCosimo (a TB member) builds some. DiCosimo Audio | Facebook
Viva nalog makes either finished units of PCBs. The problem with some of those is that they have only a mute and not a true bypass switch. I would highly recommend getting a unit with a bypass switch or putting it in a bypass loop.
Now, if you do not want those, and just want the fuzz, BYOC now makes a Acoustic 360 fuzz clone and so does Rafferty Audio (I think that is the name).
Then, a chorus of your choice, a delay, probably an overdrive.
Don't let all the Bass>Cable>Amp curmudgeons get you down. The question was what effects he used, those are the effects he used. Good luck OP, hope you have fun trying to get those tones!
@Muzoid offered a good link.
So, if you do not want a full acoustic amp to lug along with you, there are alternatives.
There are Acoustic 360 preamps with the fuzz circuits available. DiCosimo (a TB member) builds some. DiCosimo Audio | Facebook
Viva nalog makes either finished units of PCBs. The problem with some of those is that they have only a mute and not a true bypass switch. I would highly recommend getting a unit with a bypass switch or putting it in a bypass loop.
Now, if you do not want those, and just want the fuzz, BYOC now makes a Acoustic 360 fuzz clone and so does Rafferty Audio (I think that is the name).
Then, a chorus of your choice, a delay, probably an overdrive.
Don't let all the Bass>Cable>Amp curmudgeons get you down. The question was what effects he used, those are the effects he used. Good luck OP, hope you have fun trying to get those tones!
My favourite story about him was the one where he gave his youngest son an amazing technocolour dreamcoat.
DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
Just about the only two useful responses.
In summary:
He used the fuzz circuit on his Acoustic amp.
He used two acoustic amps, with a delay on one, creating a chorus effect.
So - as noted above, you need to try to replicate these sounds through other means.
By the way - this isn't to say he never used anything else, or that he used these at all times. But when people think of "his sound" these are particular elements that come to mind (in addition to his fretless tone).
I heard he stopped using effects lately. He was overwhelmed with all the boutique reverbs that do 7 other effects mixed with reverb and he just gave up. His record this year will most likely only feature the new DOD Meatbox re-issue. Unless of course he flips it and decides he need a third Eventide H9. Either way I'm sure it'll be a fantastic record. I wish he still wore the Phillies hat.
Time for a bump...
Been listening to lots of live Jaco stuff where he uses the Acoustic amp fuzz.
Are there any fuzz pedals out there that can sound like that?
Not uber-boutique, made-to-order Acoustic pre-amp/fuzz clones but regular fuzz pedals.
Been listening to lots of live Jaco stuff where he uses the Acoustic amp fuzz.
Are there any fuzz pedals out there that can sound like that?
Not uber-boutique, made-to-order Acoustic pre-amp/fuzz clones but regular fuzz pedals.
I thought he used the Nazgul rings to make the windingI heard he had random wires that went nowhere, just to confuse his roadies and fans staring at his rig during shows.
He also re-wound his pick-ups with copper that he mined himself from the mountains of Tibet.
