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. 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.
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