Best recorded Alembic Bass tone

[funkyjazzjunky]

Check out Anthony Jackson  
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26VM_rtWiX0

[glocke]

Awesome!

[white_cloud]

Yes - awesome indeed...but I prefer the recorded sound of Jimmy Johnson http://youtu.be/cNpt3iMFLjI

[funkyjazzjunky]

Wonder what model Anthony Jackson played and if he had a 6 string Alembic made

[hifiguy]

I think Anthony's first 6 was either made by Carl Thompson or Vinnie Fodera.  Don't ever remember seeing him wirh or talking about Alembics.

[FC Bass]

Wonder what model Anthony Jackson played and if he had a 6 string Alembic made
 
Probably a Classico 6 with Schaller straplocks :-)
Talkin' bout Contrabass guitar
 
(Message edited by fc_spoiler on April 26, 2011)

[reinier]

Don't think AJ ever played Alembic. Given that the Grover Washington recording dates back to 1976, my guess would be he used his Jazzbass, dubbed Career Girl, I believe.
 
Lots of info on AJ's gear from past til (then) present can be found in this Bass Player interview:
http://www.bassplayer.com/article/anthony-jackson-interview/jan-00/6978
 
Part 1 is also very interesting reading material. And some of the takes AJ did back then for Chaka Khan / Arif Mardin are mandatory homework for all bass players. Even when you realise he got carte blanche re. (studio) time to mould his parts to perfection, just listen to So not to worry (hard to believe that was a 4-string, strung B-E-A-D!) or Heed the warning. Still knocks me off my socks!
 
Take care,
RR

[funkyjazzjunky]

According to the Bass Book AJ played a 5 string (Low B) Alembic.  
 
Listen to the intro clip on the Gorver Washington tune I listed above, does that sound like a Fender? I could never get one to 'blossom'  
 
VMG

[musashi]

What is the Bass Book?

[jacko]

this
 
graeme

[musashi]

Thanks, Graeme.

[reinier]

I have just reread the Guitar Player interview with AJ from 1989 and for some reason, AJ was keen on making a point re. 5 string basses. In the interview he states: I have never player a 5 string. Period. In those early days he reportedly switched beteen his BEAD 4 Jazz bass and 6 string prototypes from Carl Tompson and/or Ken Smith.
 
His blossoming sound probably came from AJ using top notch equipment and from being very picky about string age. In the interview he stated that for a track on Chick Corea's The Leprechaun he changed GHS Boomers after every take! (Marcus Miller once said in an interview that in his younger days, he'd check every waiste bin in a NY recording studio when AJ was in the house).
 
RR

[hifiguy]

Top notch equipment I'll say!
 
He was using two Swiss-built FM Acoustics power amps for his live rig IIRC in the 1990s.  Even back then these amps, most often used in high-end audio systems or in studios were $20-30K each.  Had a chance to hear one when I was writing for The Abso!ute Sound back in the late 1990s - but I didn't review it when the then importer found out I was going to write about it and not then Editor In Chief Harry Pearson.  The guy had a hissy fit and demanded it (and its companion preamp and phono stage) back after only six weeks.  In '99 those three pieces comprised $80K of gear.
 
Best solid state amplifier I heard until I heard the Technical Brain amps from Japan at 2010 Rocky Mountain Audio Festival.  Those handmade beauties were face-meltingly, mind-roastingly good, as they should be for $62K/pair.  Kurosawa-san is a genius.
 
But no one has ever accused AJ of having anything than the most refined of sonic taste.

[funkyjazzjunky]

In the article below Anthony Jackson talks about playing the Fender V 5 string bass
 
http://thepocket.multiply.com/journal/item/115/Contrabass_Conception_Anthony_Jacksons_Journey_To_6-String_Supremacy_By_Chris_Jisi_Bass_Player_Magazine