What exactly is "that seventies thing"?

[Andy Daventry]

I wonder if, when people talk about "the 70s thing", what they really have in mind is all the direct-to-board studio recordings....because live sound was pretty naff, as far as I recall.

I remember seeing an SVT+ 8x10 in a shop in the mid 70s, with everyone walking around it ready to say "klaatu barada nikto" when the robot came out. I can't recall actually seeing one being used. Posh bands used Fender bassmans, and the rest used whatever heads and 4x12s were going cheap at the local music exchange.

Of course, that was the boondocks, 70s London. And memory is selective.

 

[Fun With Dirt]

For some reason, @Andy Daventry , when I saw your location, the first thing that came to mind was..

Now it's Istanbul not Constantinople.

 

[Andy Daventry]

I remember a great electric bass player, using a Fender jazz and a Hiwatt 100 with a little homemade cab. Traded in the Hiwatt for the HH. It was lighter and was meant to be an improvement, but was anything but. They weren’t too bad for keyboards, but I’m not a fan. The Hiwatt sounded excellent.View attachment 3571347

I remember those. They were light. I liked that.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

This is That Seventies Thing
/EndOfPost>

 

[bassballs27]

The tone of “a Fender Jazz or Precision with Maple Fretboard and Ash Body being played through a SVT Blueline.”
That’s screams that 70’s thing to me!

 

[Iristone]

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

I wish everyone would think so. Then I could get my share of Acoustic 370.

 

[Passinwind]

That's really it in a nutshell. The 70s are what the 50s and 60s used to be. Anyone who remembers the 60s as an adult is.... well..... not a spring chicken. Those people are carrying 1 pound heads, three pound cans, and 7 pound basses to the gig. And they don't like anything 70s because it came out after they were in high school (which is, evidently, the most important time period in the history of the planet).

Nope. I stopped gigging a few years back and I don't like anything anymore. Especially anything related to my high school years.

 

[El Güero]

What exactly is "that seventies thing"?

A mullet.

 

[BogeyBass]

The 70s thing was all the cheap tube amps i bought in th 90s for 100 dollars

and now all worth thousands

In reality its a blanket statement that people just keep repeating

 

[pappabass]

70's thing means big heavy Peavey amp, Fender p bass

 

[Jim C]

The important things to remember about the 70's relative to music:
* Songs had melody lines that were memorable
* People actually had to play and sing well with only punch-ins on recordings
* There were good clubs where people would pay to see original music
* We weren't aware of Aids; there was more sexual freedom
* Great Rock/Pop/Soul/ and R&D music was based on original ideas and not formulaic or re-hashed ideas!
* The price of a US Fender bass, when adjusted for inflation, was about the same cost as it is now

 

[Iristone]

But I thought the craftsmanship of 70s MIA basses are not that great.

 

[DDXdesign]

And probably a little rancid by now!

That's why it's got the stank on it!

 

[Passinwind]

The important things to remember about the 70's relative to music:
* Songs had melody lines that were memorable
* People actually had to play and sing well with only punch-ins on recordings
* There were good clubs where people would pay to see original music
* We weren't aware of Aids; there was more sexual freedom
* Great Rock/Pop/Soul/ and R&D music was based on original ideas and not formulaic or re-hashed ideas!
* The price of a US Fender bass, when adjusted for inflation, was about the same cost as it is now

I love R&D music.

 

[Jim C]

I love R&D music.

Stupid work talk polluted my post; but I do too!
Sometimes R&D Music can sound like heavy metal, in a foreign language, being played backwards.
Other days it sounds horrible...

 

[40Hz]

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.

There also weren’t anything like what we’d (today) consider actual bass instrument speakers until the early to mid 80s. In the 70s they were basically using beefed up guitar speakers.

When it comes to bass guitar speaker and cab design, the improvements made over the last almost 50 years have been significant.

 

[BOOG]

I love R&D music.

That’s when you break it down in the beginning and fix it up all nice and tight at the end, right?

 

[Iristone]

There also weren’t anything like what we’d (today) consider actual bass instrument speakers until the early to mid 80s. In the 70s they were basically using beefed up guitar speakers.

When it comes to bass guitar speaker and cab design, the improvements made over the last almost 50 years have been significant.

Curious, I think many of my favourite tones were recorded through glorified guitar cabinets.
I still want a glorified guitar cabinet now. The non-glorified ones are far too expensive for their power handling.

 

[Jeff Scott]

I remember a great electric bass player, using a Fender jazz and a Hiwatt 100 with a little homemade cab. Traded in the Hiwatt for the HH. It was lighter and was meant to be an improvement, but was anything but. They weren’t too bad for keyboards, but I’m not a fan. The Hiwatt sounded excellent.View attachment 3571347

First time I saw one of those H|H amps was in '73 as used by Steve Hackett.

 

[grinx]

That 70's Thing Recipe:

1 part Boom
1 part Chikka
2 parts Wow

Gently shake, serve with a cocktail onion