Members SpaceGhost Posted June 17, 2005 Members Share Posted June 17, 2005 Frank Zappa's record apostrophe has this instrumental track with Jack Bruce on bass and he has one of the craziest, overly-distorted bass tone i've ever heard. Its almost guitar like and buzz sawy but how does he get this tone? Was this around when Bruce switched over to Warwick basses or is this still mudbucker equiped EB-0? People of HCBF, enlighten me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lug Posted June 17, 2005 Members Share Posted June 17, 2005 sounds kinda like this? http://users3.ev1.net/~woodd/godzilla.wav Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceGhost Posted June 17, 2005 Author Members Share Posted June 17, 2005 His tone sounds a little more organic than that though. I'm guessing its tubes driven like crazy, maybe a guitar amp? It has the same qualities as that track, lug, but it just doesn't have "it" (as in vibe... not exact tone). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lug Posted June 17, 2005 Members Share Posted June 17, 2005 Originally posted by SpaceGhost His tone sounds a little more organic than that though. I'm guessing its tubes driven like crazy, maybe a guitar amp? It has the same qualities as that track, lug, but it just doesn't have "it" (as in vibe... not exact tone). He was known for using overdriven marshalls back before that. No idea if that's what he did on that piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the_big_geez Posted June 17, 2005 Members Share Posted June 17, 2005 It's hard telling with 'ol JB. At one point he was reported to have been using multiple bassmans (turned up to '11' , of course!) and having poked holes in the speakers with a pencil to make it distort more. Nobody REALLY knows if this worked or not 'cause I figure everone filed this under 'Do NOT try this at home, kids!' So, it's anyone's guess. But that WAS some damn-fine stinkin... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fretless Posted June 17, 2005 Members Share Posted June 17, 2005 according to a BP interview , that is the only time he ever used a fuzz box , Frank really wanted it and Jack really hated it , to this day he still hates it yet everyone always compliments him on . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceGhost Posted June 17, 2005 Author Members Share Posted June 17, 2005 Fretless, just for the sake of curiosity, do you know what fuzz he used? I was just fooling around a little while ago with a Marshall Guv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fretless Posted June 17, 2005 Members Share Posted June 17, 2005 ok off to search the archives ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fretless Posted June 17, 2005 Members Share Posted June 17, 2005 no it does not say, but here is a quote from the Sept 01 BP BP: recalling attempts at getting his famous tone.JB: laughs... "Frank Zappa wanted the most outrageous Jack Bruce sound when I did his album Apostrophe-not the Cream Bruce sound , which was sort of a fart,but an extremely cranked buzz.To this day people comment on what a great sound it is , and I was ashamed of it " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fretless Posted June 17, 2005 Members Share Posted June 17, 2005 just checked all the different BP interviews with him and none say what it was . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fretless Posted June 17, 2005 Members Share Posted June 17, 2005 heres a interesting Zappa interviewhttp://home.online.no/~corneliu/gp77interview.htm Q: What about playing with (bass guitarist) Jack Bruce on Apostrophe? FZ: Well, that was just a jam thing that happened because he was a friend of (drummer) Jim Gordon. I found it very difficult to play with him; he's too busy. He doesn't really want to play the bass in terms of root functions; I think he has other things on his mind. But that's the way jam sessions go. On that solo on "Apostrophe" I'm using an SG with a Barcus-Berry on the bridge, and that's being sent to one of the channels, then the other side is coming out of a Pignose. And there's an attack differential between how fast the Barcus-Berry speaks and how fast the Pignose speaks. So you've got a sharp attack on one side and then the rest of the note following it on the other. And on "Stink-Foot" (Apostrophe) there's an interesting sound where I'm using an acoustic guitar with a magnetic pickup on it and a Barcus-Berry on the bridge. The Barcus-Berry is going into one channel, and the maguetic pickup is going to a Mu-tron and the other channel, so you have a sharp attack and an enveloped attack. It gives a lot of space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceGhost Posted June 18, 2005 Author Members Share Posted June 18, 2005 Thanks Fretless for the info. *furiously reads link* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the_big_geez Posted June 18, 2005 Members Share Posted June 18, 2005 Originally posted by fretless heres a interesting Zappa interviewhttp://home.online.no/~corneliu/gp77interview.htmQ: What about playing with (bass guitarist) Jack Bruce on Apostrophe?FZ: Well, that was just a jam thing that happened because he was a friend of (drummer) Jim Gordon. I found it very difficult to play with him; he's too busy. He doesn't really want to play the bass in terms of root functions; I think he has other things on his mind. But that's the way jam sessions go. On that solo on "Apostrophe" I'm using an SG with a Barcus-Berry on the bridge, and that's being sent to one of the channels, then the other side is coming out of a Pignose. And there's an attack differential between how fast the Barcus-Berry speaks and how fast the Pignose speaks. So you've got a sharp attack on one side and then the rest of the note following it on the other. And on "Stink-Foot" (Apostrophe) there's an interesting sound where I'm using an acoustic guitar with a magnetic pickup on it and a Barcus-Berry on the bridge. The Barcus-Berry is going into one channel, and the maguetic pickup is going to a Mu-tron and the other channel, so you have a sharp attack and an enveloped attack. It gives a lot of space. Kee-rist! That almost sounds like a Bob Dylan lyric... 'Here is your throat back, thanks for the loan' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Unknown Posted June 18, 2005 Members Share Posted June 18, 2005 Hmmm... Well for that tone, just about any bass, a Big Muff and a SVT should work to get a similar tone... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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