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bass overdrive?


GraemeC

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Guest davetherave
What bass overdrive pedal would be best for getting that Felix Pappalardi/cream era Jack Bruce sound ?

Felix and Leslie West probably had the biggest rock sound of the early seventies :) Being a Mountain fan, I have a few links to interviews, but theres not much written on their gear. I'm a typical guitar player with the usual OD pedals, so no bass experience here, but I imagine a good Bass OD pedal with bass/treble controls would help? I think most of their sound was from their "tweaked" amps, I found this felix interview quote from 72, hope it helps...

"

Pappalardi went to the Gibson Company to encourage them to remake the old violin-shaped solidbody, because the one he had was stolen and he simply couldn't find another. The company finally did reproduce the violin bass, calling it an EB-1, and Felix has to be its biggest booster. "I just love it," he claims, "particularly the weight. I really like having a heavy instrument in my hands. It has more powerful pickups, too. And it only has two knobs. Man, I hate instruments with knobs all over. I want it all as simple as possible, nothing between me and my playing." About the only modifications on his bass are a lowered string action and the lack of hardware. "I take everything off that I can," he explains, "so I can have as much room to get around as possible." His strings are Dan Armstrongs, "they're super heavies," which he changes as seldom as possible. "Once they get broken in, I leave them as long as I can. I've only broken three, and each time it was the 6th string."

The amp system Felix uses is the Sunn equipment that he claims was first designed for Jimi Hendrix. "It was souped up some more by our Tom Lyle," he adds, "but I really don't know what he did. Something to do with the top, I think. I'm really not into all that electronic thing. As long as I have the bark, the attack, that I like, everything's fine."

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I think the story went.... he was driving his marshall stack so hard he created the sound he's famous for, but it wasnt good for either amp or speakers (G12 greenbacks) so he had the bass modded by adding a diode, I think by Dan Armstrong, which gave him the sound without trashing his back line.

I really dont think I can justify investing in an EB3 plus late 60's Marshall 100w head and a pair of late 60's 4x12's for 2 or 3 songs.... :down:

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  • 11 years later...
On 1/24/2012 at 3:19 AM, Guest davetherave said:

Felix and Leslie West probably had the biggest rock sound of the early seventies :) Being a Mountain fan, I have a few links to interviews, but theres not much written on their gear. I'm a typical guitar player with the usual OD pedals, so no bass experience here, but I imagine a good Bass OD pedal with bass/treble controls would help? I think most of their sound was from their "tweaked" amps, I found this felix interview quote from 72, hope it helps...

"

Pappalardi went to the Gibson Company to encourage them to remake the old violin-shaped solidbody, because the one he had was stolen and he simply couldn't find another. The company finally did reproduce the violin bass, calling it an EB-1, and Felix has to be its biggest booster. "I just love it," he claims, "particularly the weight. I really like having a heavy instrument in my hands. It has more powerful pickups, too. And it only has two knobs. Man, I hate instruments with knobs all over. I want it all as simple as possible, nothing between me and my playing." About the only modifications on his bass are a lowered string action and the lack of hardware. "I take everything off that I can," he explains, "so I can have as much room to get around as possible." His strings are Dan Armstrongs, "they're super heavies," which he changes as seldom as possible. "Once they get broken in, I leave them as long as I can. I've only broken three, and each time it was the 6th string."

The amp system Felix uses is the Sunn equipment that he claims was first designed for Jimi Hendrix. "It was souped up some more by our Tom Lyle," he adds, "but I really don't know what he did. Something to do with the top, I think. I'm really not into all that electronic thing. As long as I have the bark, the attack, that I like, everything's fine."

It's sad to loose such treasured instrument.

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