Max Kay’s nephew Jeremy Kay makes an appearance in a Reverb video (seen below) describing how to get that beloved Motown bass tone played by bass great James Jamerson.<\/p>\n
Something very important to note in the video is that Motown did not use amplifiers<\/strong> for studio recordings. What they used was their version of a DI box. Reproductions of their boxes (one is shown in the video) are available, but we also carry several very good DIs by SansAMP<\/a>.<\/p>\n In addition, we also carry the famous flatwound La Bella “1954” strings<\/a>, a.k.a. the 760M. However, a warning about those strings: They are built “like they used to make ’em”, meaning they are thick, they are heavy and they do have very tight string tension. If you have never played bass with old-school flatwound strings before, they feel very different compared to modern roundwound. Also, breaking them in does take time, so be prepared for that.<\/p>\n Seen also in the video is a very low-tech way of getting the proper faster note decay along with reducing overtones, which is stuffing some foam under the strings at the bridge. To note, foam mutes were in fact a normal “feature” of Fender bass guitars at one time, but you never saw it because it was hidden under the large metal guards that used to come provided with the instruments. If you want something that offers more muting control, try the GruvGear Fump<\/a> (it certainly looks nicer than a piece of foam stuffed under the strings).<\/p>\n Something else that really helps bring out attack in the notes is another very old-school thing, the felt bass pick. We carry these by Grover<\/a> and by Dunlop<\/a>. Felt has an amazing way of bringing out a “thwack” when a string is struck while at the same time hearing almost no pick noise whatsoever. The sound is almost like adding compression without the use of a compressor. <\/p>\n Be sure to watch the video below for more details on how to achieve the great Jamerson Motown bass tone.<\/p>\n