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Bruce Foxton


JPJ
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Recently, on my weekly drive to/from the south west, I have been working my way through a box of old cd's that were lying in our loft. This week, it was the turn of the Jam (greatest hits) and it struck me what a great overdrive/distortion tone Bruce foxton had.

I know his weapons of choice was a Rick 4001 through a Marshall amp head, but does anyone know of a reasonably priced pedal that can achieve the same effect?

Sorry if this has already been covered on here but I am just too lazy to search!

My SWR has an inbuilt distortion circuit but that is far fizzier than the Foxton sound.

IN RESPONSE TO THIS THREAD ON BASSTALK, Acidbass suggested the DHA pedal line, but does this give the warm power amp type distortion a la Foxton or more fizz. BTW my SWR (750x) has a valve in the front end which is the source of the overdrive circuit!

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[quote name='JPJ' post='36' date='May 16 2007, 11:26 PM']Recently, on my weekly drive to/from the south west, I have been working my way through a box of old cd's that were lying in our loft. This week, it was the turn of the Jam (greatest hits) and it struck me what a great overdrive/distortion tone Bruce foxton had.

I know his weapons of choice was a Rick 4001 through a Marshall amp head, but does anyone know of a reasonably priced pedal that can achieve the same effect?

Sorry if this has already been covered on here but I am just too lazy to search!

My SWR has an inbuilt distortion circuit but that is far fizzier than the Foxton sound.

IN RESPONSE TO THIS THREAD ON BASSTALK, Acidbass suggested the DHA pedal line, but does this give the warm power amp type distortion a la Foxton or more fizz. BTW my SWR (750x) has a valve in the front end which is the source of the overdrive circuit![/quote]

As well as the Rick didn't he use a Fender P quite extensively also? I know he recorded some stuff with one.

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Possibly, I wasn't a fan at the time and just remember seeing him on Top of the Pops and the Tube slinging a Rick.

There was one great shot on the Tube footage of the back of his marshall with the covers off and the valves glowing that lovely red colour that only well driven valves can create.

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I have heard that Foxton(and please dont quote me on this-its late for a start...)didnt use a 'real' Ric,but a copy.
But thats not important.You're asking about overdrive.
Having just bought meself a fine DHA VT2 Dual,I can happily say that it does warm OD to a tee.Particularly with the cryo valves I asked Dave to put it in it.Perhaps a little too warm for me.Its at the expensive of loosing the sparkle I like and that suits my Ric(thats what I think anyhoo).Its just not got the grind Im after but Im hoping to change that with some valve experimenting.
I know,its starts off as dabbling here and there then before you know it you've formed a pay-draining habit...
Anyhoo,IMO the DHA VT2 will do outragous warm fuzzy fizz if you want,but modest settings keep things 'warm'.
Im sure Brycebites will chime in when he gets over here.
Just thought,although its more money,you could get the custom dual,as its got an EQ section in it that Dave told is basically the Fender Bassman/Marshall Plexi circuit.And its switchable if you dont like it.
Andy

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I can't remember which one I've got... I think it's the Dual Custom. It sounds awesome. I whack the o/d to full - it's the heaviest and most 'tone'-ful bass o/d pedal I've heard. On the lower and mid settings, it does a nice warm, thick, meaty o/d.

I also have a Warwick Quadruplet which isn't an effect really but it does the preamp and power amp overdrive very well. It has 3 12AX7 preamp valves and 1 EL84 on a dummy load to give you the power amp distortion.

You could have the best of both worlds and ask Dave of DHA to build you a Dual Custom with 1 preamp valve and 1 power amp valve on a dummy load. That'd sound nuts!

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He never recorded with the Ric and very rarely played one live. Only for TOTP and videos did it (and an Ibanez copy) come out.
All recording was done with the P or an acoustic (on Start). He used to use a Marshall 100w Superbass.
Today he plays a P through an SVT 2 Pro and an 810.

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[quote name='tombboy' post='1211' date='May 18 2007, 09:42 AM']All recording was done with the P or an acoustic (on Start)[/quote]

That was really an acoustic? I'd always wondered how he got that strange sound. It's not dissimilar to his Precision Bass tone, it seems to be EQ'd the same but with less high end. Cheers for the info :)

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[quote name='acidbass' post='1982' date='May 19 2007, 01:27 AM'][url="http://members.aol.com/davehallamps/"]What a Website![/url]

But on a serious note -

[url="http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Dave-Hall-Amplifiers-and-Effects"]Linkage[/url][/quote]

Hi,

That's an old website which I must kill off!

New one is www.davehallamps.co.uk

thanks

DHA

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I spoke to Bruce Foxton about his Ricks once, and he said that he switched to Precisions in the early eighties. He'd apparently tried changing the pickups and sticking a badass on, but nothing would get the bottom end he wanted. I'm not so sure about rarely playing a Rick live either - I saw The Jam 3 times in the seventies, and each time he was playing a Rick.

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JPJ -

Check what valve is in your 750x. I can't remember. If you ask Brycebites over at finnbass he is my local valve expert. Check him out for which valve drives he likes best.

That's probably a better place to start than buying pedals.

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  • 12 years later...
On 18/05/2007 at 08:18, warwickhunt said:

I remember The Jam from the first time around and BF did indeed use a P bass and in the earliest days a Rick copy (Ibanez I believe...). Don't think it said in 'Jackie' or 'Smash Hits' what his bass rig consisted of :)

He did indeed circa 1976-77 use an Ibanez Ric copy but bought a PROPER Ric as soon as any money from their first single came in (and a few Ric Basses after that)

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