What exactly is "that seventies thing"?

[Chris 'Wighat' Jordan]

From the Talk Bass Trope Files:

It goes something like "I just scored a Brand X head and cab and it does that seventies thing really well..."

What is "that seventies thing"? Is it even anything? Is this just something people have heard other people say and thus repeat it?

 

[bikeplate]

Likely similar to “old school”. The ultimate vague reference of all time

 

[Nashrakh]

Maybe it has tone for days.

 

[Grooveline]

"That seventies thing" has many definitions. It could mean it the amp/cab looks good sitting on orange to brown stained carpets or a beat wooden stage. It could also mean they smell like road dust and cigarette smoke. I would guess what most people mean though is the amp/cab have a good classic rock/funk sound with some thump and a rounded off top end. Plenty of new offerings can do "that seventies thing" without that seventies weight.

 

[db59]

Hmmm.....had an Acoustic 370....Now have a Mesa Subway rig.....Mesa all day !!!

 

[Acoop]

I was the same height in the 70's as I am now, but all my amps were a lot bigger. ... So, a '70's thing', to me, means, a third floor walk up apartment and two big 15" cabs and a heavy amp I had to carry upstairs or someone would steal it out of my car. ... Looking back, that thief would've done me a favour.

 

[chris_b]

. . . . it's when you're getting old!!!

 

[Michedelic]

A brighter, snappier sound, and slightly less low end than the majority of 60’s bass, which was more throbbing and muffled. With a few exceptions, of course, like Entwistle, Graham, or maybe Joe Osbourne’s tone, sculpted to cut through on smaller speakers in cars, but because of those trends, and roundwound strings coming in at the start of the 70’s, that’s what eventually defined the decade, tonally.

 

[wmhill]

It's tort for the ears....

 

[40Hz]

In a nutshell? It varies.

To me the 70s thing is:

Ampeg SVT
Acoustic 360 or 370
Sunn Colosseum
Alembic F-1X or F-2B preamp into a Crown DC-300A

Cabs are 8x10, 2x15, or 1x18 folded horn.

No FOH. PA only used for vocals.

 

[ad9000]

Since I started playing in the early 70's and bought my first amps then, I'd define "that seventies thing" as: underpowered, limited bandwidth amp heads, cabs that have a severe rolloff at about 80 hZ and no top end to speak of, rigs with way too much weight/size for the perceivable loudness they put out (like my refrigerator sized 1971 Quilter 215 cab, which was probably not as efficient as a modern 210).

The advances in bass amplification since the 70's are monumental, and I am not the least bit sentimental about what was around then, with a few exceptions. I think these are some pieces that still sound great and deservedly have their place today: SVT, B-15, Sunn 2000S and 215 cab, Alembic F-2B (I have a 1976 F-2B, and it is hard to beat for a meat-and-potatoes tube sound). There are probably others but that's what immediately comes to mind.

I know some people these days have a fondness for Acoustic 360 or 370's, but I have to think that's largely nostalgia. Even back then I thought they were loud but boxy sounding and lacking in definition. I expect there are some opinions contrary to that!

 

[Spirit of Ox]

Its when the Jazz bass is heavy and the pickup is closer to the bridge.

 

[delta7fred]

That 70's thing to me (having played in the 70's) is heavy as hell, lots of mids, not a lot of bass and beams like a flashlight.

Give me a high power day class D amp and neo cab any day.

 

[Ostie]

It means it’s a tone monster and plays like butter. Everyone knows that seventies butter was creamier than recent butter.

 

[delta7fred]

Everyone knows that seventies butter was creamier than recent butter.

And probably a little rancid by now!

 

[ad9000]

A brighter, snappier sound, and slightly less low end than the majority of 60’s bass, which was more throbbing and muffled. With a few exceptions, of course, like Entwistle, Graham, or maybe Joe Osbourne’s tone, sculpted to cut through on smaller speakers in cars, but because of those trends, and roundwound strings coming in at the start of the 70’s, that’s what eventually defined the decade, tonally.

That's very true of the bass sounds on 70's records, but there wasn't much around in the way of amplification that could adequately reproduce it, except with sound reinforcement if the bass was through a DI. I'd say that started to change at the very end of the 70's, when there was an emergence of some bass amplification with a little bit more "hi fi" consciousness.

 

[mmbongo]

Weighs 130 pounds and has no bottom end??

 

[40Hz]

I know some people these days have a fondness for Acoustic 360 or 370's, but I have to think that's largely nostalgia.

And I’d think you’re largely wrong.

 

[Chris 'Wighat' Jordan]

Maybe folks ascribe "that seventies thing" to a rig just by it being from the seventies. Heck, maybe that's all there is to it.

If I had to give an honest answer to what I think "that seventies thing" is, it would be the sound you get from a B25B head and cab at small rock venue volume. Not much very low bass, no treble, but a big sound marked by pleasant tube distortion and cone break-up.

 

[Jeff Scott]

From the Talk Bass Trope Files:

It goes something like "I just scored a Brand X head and cab and it does that seventies thing really well..."

What is "that seventies thing"? Is it even anything? Is this just something people have heard other people say and thus repeat it?

That's millennial slang for "I was too young (not born, yet) to have been there the first time around."