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You’ve learned the type of song Portrait of Tracy is, and given a few ideas on how to get the sound with modern equipment. Is this the de facto way to get Portrait of Tracy tone? Go for the mids, and you’re on the right track. That being true, it can be arguably said that you can’t get Jaco tone without really paying attention to those mids and making them heard very clearly. Jaco favored the Acoustic 360 amplifier, which undeniably gave a huge bump up in the mid frequencies for his Jazz Basses. Again, there’s really no thump and not a lot of crisp treble heard in Portrait of Tracy, so aim for the mids. “What frequencies should I be aiming for?” Your ears will tell you for certain whether you’ve got the sound or not. If you have a preamp be it on-board or external that compresses when engaged, that may be enough to get the Jaco tone you’re looking for. Some preamps color sound in a way that adds compression while others are engineered to purposely not do that. “I already have a preamp that adds in compression. Experimentation is of course required to find the right squash, but in the end it should help out quite a bit, because compression, generally speaking, does even out note balance volume.
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Something not present in Portrait of Tracy is thump, so if a compressor is used, attack would need to be set to a minimal level.īetter compressors to use would be the kind with the most tone shaping options possible, namely the Aguilar TLC and the MXR M87.īest reason to use a compressor for Jaco tone: If you’ve tried everything possible to get even string balance but you just can’t seem to get the sound, a compressor will “squash” your tone (in a good way) so that notes have even volume. With the electric bass, you’re obviously using long strings and not short metal tines, so to reproduce the natural attack and decay of a Rhodes, a compressor effect can help if used lightly. The tines are struck and the pickup amplifies the sound.Ī Rhodes naturally sounds like a compressor effect is in use, however what you’re actually hearing are the tines vibrating/ringing, and while it may sound compressed, it isn’t. There aren’t any strings in a Rhodes, but rather metal tines. Something to know about the Rhodes electric piano is that the way one works is in fact from the use of a pickup. Would the Nordstrand Big Singles and Nordstrand Big Splits also work? Yes (especially if you want a soap bar and not a Jazz size pickup.) Is the compressor effect required? It’s offset pole pieces really help bring out the notes without any “wavering.” And when going for the Portrait of Tracy sound, those offset poles really help to get the tone. Yes, it’s a modern pickup made with modern tooling, but where string balance is concerned, this pickup nails it. It means a pickup that promotes good string balance.Īn example of this would be the Bartolini B-Axis.
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What does “really good rear pickup” mean here? So even if your bass only has a single rear pickup, if it’s a good one, you can get the tone. In the end, what matters here is that it helps greatly to have a really good rear pickup. Your guess as to where Jaco had his controls set to would be just as good as anyone else’s guess. But it’s probably true the rear pickup was rolled up full, the front pickup rolled back to about 25% and the tone control rolled back at least 50%.īear in mind this is all speculation. How much was the rear pickup favored? We’ll never know for sure. With Portrait of Tracy, you will notice in the song that the bass frequencies are rolled down a fair amount, indicating the rear pickup was favored for the recording. The combination of two volume controls and one tone control, while simple, is a very good design. What makes the Jazz Bass so good for this particular tone are the two single-coil pickups, allowing you to shape the sound just about any way you want it. Some believe that the only way to get the Jaco sound is to use a Jazz Bass. Saying “it’s all in the fingers” has truth to it, but the follow-up question concerning Portrait of Tracy is “…and what are you trying to do with those fingers?” The answer is that you’re aiming for a Rhodes piano style sound. Plenty of practice is definitely required. Making an electric bass sound like a Rhodes electric piano is difficult to master.