Berry Oakley was the bass player (and one of the founding members) for The Allman Brothers Band. Berry had a very good bass tone, as heard here in Mountain Jam:
Berry did play a Fender Jazz Bass, but it was anything but stock. Nicknamed the “Tractor Bass”, it was customized with a Guild pickup manufactured by Hagstrom:
What is the modern version of this pickup? Guild DS-1, and yes, we carry it.
Obviously, it takes a fair amount of modification to stuff one of these into a Jazz Bass. But it is doable. Berry Oakley did it, and so can you.
Love the bloody finger. Dude gives it all.
Any idea how it was wired? Can one (or two) J pickups hum cancel with a single coil Darkstar?
I heard Berry was the only one that could get a decent tone out of that bass. I don’t remember where I read the article but it said everyone else sounded terrible on it.
Nah. His son and grandson both play it often and sound great, playing it.
Yeah, you leave us hanging on the wiring and history, so here’s his grandson with that bass. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIpf8Ws330g
(Shaun Oakleys talk about the “Berry Oakley tractor bass”)
Thanks for giving us some of Berry’s talent often overlooked , but we can see in that he was a driving force in the band. He left way to soon!
You have no idea how much of a driving force he really was. And not just sound-wise.