What is bass equivalent to Les Paul and Marshall stack?

[bassbrowser]

So much of the music was being recorded with classic combination of Les Paul guitar and Marshall stack, maybe like Super Lead or JCM 800. But what is equivalent for bass? I am guessing it may be Fender Precision bass and some big Ampeg SVT? Maybe instead a Fender Jazz and old Bassman amp?

What do you think?

 

[Killing Floor]

I think we hear what we see. And once we see it we can’t unhear it.

All those Muscle Shoals hits, most were David’s Alembic but all the staged scenes show a P Bass. Mick Ronson used a Telecaster extensively. Rickenbacker’s poster child, Bruce Foxton used a real P Bass though.

 

[Michedelic]

So much of the music was being recorded with classic combination of Les Paul guitar and Marshall stack, maybe like Super Lead or JCM 800. But what is equivalent for bass? I am guessing it may be Fender Precision bass and some big Ampeg SVT? Maybe instead a Fender Jazz and old Bassman amp?

What do you think?

Strictly recording? If an Ampeg was involved, the odds are in favor of a B-15, otherwise often direct.
In the realm of guitar, there are all sorts of misconceptions…all of Zep I was a Telecaster through a small Supro combo, and while I haven’t come across any documented evidence, circumstantially I’d guess that JPJ was going through some sort of Vox rig; the solo on “Stairway” was a Tele through a Vox AC-30, the electric 12-string was a Fender. Blackmore ran his Strat through the same model on Machine Head/“Smoke..”, and used a Gibson 335 with the Vox earlier on. The blistering guitar sounds on The Stooges’ Raw Power was a LP through yet another AC-30. Hendrix would use Fender amps for clean tones in the studio, The Beatles employed a Selmer Zodiac combo, and so on.

 

[MarshallAC50Stack]

Jazz and SVT.

 

[drumvsbass]

P-Bass->B15
Jazz->SVT+810

These are the best combinations. Not that a Jazz into a B15 or a P into the SVT is wrong. BUT, those combinations are the ones that got recorded or used live by a LOT of artists. I can talk all day long how my favorite bass day was my Zon through my SVT rig... But there was something extra special when I was running a Geddy Lee Jazz into it.

 

[MarshallAC50Stack]

A Strat through a Marshall is nothing to sneeze at. Let's not forget the range of Fender, Vox and miscellaneous amps that are used by many guitarists in the studio, chosen on a track by track basis. All Along the Watchtower was Jimi multitracking through an AC30. With bass especially, many recordings have been direct for a very long time.

 

[Michael Stanley 2112]

7ender P-Bass through an Ampeg SVT with 8 x 10".

It doesn't get much more "dinosaur" than that.

 

[g-dude]

So much of the music was being recorded with classic combination of Les Paul guitar and Marshall stack, maybe like Super Lead or JCM 800. But what is equivalent for bass? I am guessing it may be Fender Precision bass and some big Ampeg SVT? Maybe instead a Fender Jazz and old Bassman amp?

What do you think?

Don’t forget about Hiwatt.

The Who, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd — all Hiwatt at one point in time.

That being said, we all remember The Who as Pete with a SG Special and multiple Hiwatt stacks, but he used other setups for recording as well.

 

[Dynacord]

All those Muscle Shoals hits, most were David’s Alembic but all the staged scenes show a P Bass.

Hood got the Alembic in '76. He primarily used a '61 Jazz Bass on all the '60s - early 70's recordings He stripped that same bass and it's what he used on the Traffic tour ('72 or '73?)
He's used Laklands for years now.

 

[Smoove-Groove]

Jazz bass and an Acoustic 360. Bliss!

 

[ArteK]

I saw Luscinda Williams about ten years ago live outdoors. The guitarist was playing a Telecaster through a Fender Twin Reverb and the bass player had a Precision through an SVT (with the 8x10 cab). Those were some of the most beautiful vintage tones I've ever heard at a live show.

Not where you were going with this, but I thought it was in the ball park.

To answer the original question, a Precision or Jazz through an SVT might be the equivalent. Another possibility is a nice Thunderbird through an SVT.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Strictly recording? If an Ampeg was involved, the odds are in favor of a B-15, otherwise often direct.
In the realm of guitar, there are all sorts of misconceptions…all of Zep I was a Telecaster through a small Supro combo, and while I haven’t come across any documented evidence, circumstantially I’d guess that JPJ was going through some sort of Vox rig; the solo on “Stairway” was a Tele through a Vox AC-30, the electric 12-string was a Fender. Blackmore ran his Strat through the same model on Machine Head/“Smoke..”, and used a Gibson 335 with the Vox earlier on. The blistering guitar sounds on The Stooges’ Raw Power was a LP through yet another AC-30. Hendrix would use Fender amps for clean tones in the studio, The Beatles employed a Selmer Zodiac combo, and so on.

I remember watching a video of a Deep Purple concert in a theater of about 3,000. Richie Blackmore had 8 Marshall Stacks each with two 412 cabs. Part of his act was before his "BIG" solo, he starts at one end of the stacks, runs along them diming every one of those control knobs. Having experience with how just how loud a Marshall Stack can be, 8 of them dimed would absurd in an auditorium of that size. However when came out from in from of the 8th stack, I noticed one mic on the very last cab at the bottom...

Today's equivalent is 20 watt guitar combo (pick your brand as there were as many suitable choices back then) and an Ampeg SVT with a DI to the board and a dummy cab.

 

[Bob_Ross]

So much of the music was being recorded with classic combination of Les Paul guitar and Marshall stack, maybe like Super Lead or JCM 800.

Captain Pedantic will point out that the JCM 800 hadn't even been invented by the time that the "Marshall Stack" had become acknowledged as an archetypal component of the rock'n'roll sound.

I remember watching a video of a Deep Purple concert in a theater of about 3,000. Richie Blackmore had 8 Marshall Stacks each with two 412 cabs. Part of his act was before his "BIG" solo, he starts at one end of the stacks, runs along them diming every one of those control knobs.

If you've never experienced the sheer euphoria of playing guitar through a Marshall #1959 Plexi Super Lead 100-watt head with every single knob dimed, you don't know what you're missing. It is practically a religious experience...but it is also a stunningly expressive and iconic sound.

However...If you've never experienced the sheer misery of being in a band with another guitarist running through a Marshall #1959 Plexi Super Lead 100-watt head with every single knob dimed, consider yourself lucky.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I have. I owned one. I also had a 100 watt Hiwatt and a Les Paul. I couldn't stand turning it up more than half way. It was painful.

I lived in a wooded sparsely inhabited valley and tried turning it up outside. Got it up about half way. Shortly after one of my band mates who lived about a mile away down the valley called me up and said my G string was flat, a major problem with Les Pauls...

Richie's maneuver was a stage act. 8 Super Lead 100s from where I was sitting would have not only drowned out the band, but probably the whole sound system. LOL! Seriously, I was sort of near the front, and most of the sound was coming from the mains.

BTW, to your point about a guitar player with a cranked 100 Super Lead 100, how about a keyboardist running his Fender Roads through one?? True story.

Have a good one Bob.

 

[Warpeg]

P-bass and a B-15. I’m guessing that was the most common pairing for bass recording in studios throughout the 1960’s and maybe 1870’s.

 

[Nickthebass]

P-bass and a B-15. I’m guessing that was the most common pairing for bass recording in studios throughout the 1960’s and maybe 1870’s.

I believe that pretty much all the classic Detroit era Motown was recorded direct. Not so sure about Stax and Muscle Shoals though.

Where an amp was used (and is today) - there’s a good bet it was a B15 in the studio.

 

[Free Bassing]

Just get a Gibson Les Paul Bass and the Marshall murder one