Chris2112

Rocking that 50's Diner toilet seat look.

Yep, I've always thought he sounded better playing his jazz bass. It sounded a bit richer and more aggressive than the Stingray and really suited that album.

Hi Vail. In your interview with Jeff, I'd love to hear him talk more about the later stages of his career as a musician. His educational principles are well documented around the web and every interview with him seems to ask about either his time playing with Bill Bruford or what he preaches as an educator. You have a great opportunity to get insight on the most exciting part of his career - when he was at the helm! I am a huge fan of Jeff's work and his teaching so I'll happily listen to any interview with him and I look forward to whatever you come up with. If possible, I'd love to hear some discussion on his preference for chord tones; how he uses them to outline harmony and add colour to his playing and how we amateurs can better use them. On this channel, I would also love to hear more from you. I mentioned on Facebook the other day that I had enjoyed your solo albums from the 90's (I'm Christopher Dwaine Pipe, we spoke there the other day). I love your playing and thought you had developed a really distinct sound as a bassist. Can't wait to hear more from you!

She's good! I often find singing a solo like this is a great way to learn it. I learned a lot of 'James by Jeff Berlin in by singing it like this to get to grips with the different notes and phrases and I have, for years now, enjoying singing the middle section of 'Volcano for Hire' by Weather Report in this fashion. Her take on 'Donna Lee' is particularly good because after the first minute or so, the pieces does rather lose it's form. Jaco has, by then, expended the most identifiable phrases and motifs so to keep place in a vocal performance is impressive.

Watch footage of Shawn Lane playing in Memphis bars in the 90's with the DDT band. One of the most talented musicians on the planet playing his heart out as people wander around drinking beer and playing pool, unaware they're in the presence of a genuine master.

The thing that always sticks out and amuses is that Carl Thompson's builds are always referred to as being absolute dogshite. I have read Ken Smith's comments on then before in less flattering terms than are used here. He was out of his depth against Fodera and Smith.

There is obviously some room for adjustment. You'll notice over the years that the chorus sound has changed from album to album or even song to song depending on what was needed and peak chorus was probably in the early to mid 2000's. Using a shallow depth and high speed gives a lovely warble and shimmer without being overpowering. Yeah, sometimes the wet:dry signal mix on the record is really weighted towards the chorused sound but by setting the pedal like this, a lot of the natural sound of the bass comes through. Keeping the speed high and the depth low keeps the sound tight too, which is essential if you want the fluidity and definition Jeff gets. Throughout his jazz era, Jeff really redefined his style of soloing, moving to a more improvisational style of playing over changes in a way he hadn't done before that. Compare a really composed solo from something like 'Manos De Piedra' to the winding, improvisational lines in something like 'James' or 'Saab Story'. Because Jeff had Richard Drexler playing upright bass, he was able to let the bass guitar take the role of a horn and really let rip.

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A great player, no doubt, despite a few sharps and flats there. Those black nylon strings sound really hokey though, particularly in the higher registers where they sound like elastic bands.

I generally like Warwick but I've never really liked the Corvette. I don't have anything against it, but I've never played one that felt good. The worst was a five string FNA in 'amber violin' colour (I think that was the name of the finish). I played it in a shop and got the 'so are you buying it?' question when I handed it back. I didn't much like the clubby neck and the lifeless tone, but I did remark to the sales guy that the strings were beyond dead and the setup was off. I came into the shop next week and saw a fresh set of strings so I tried it again - the bass sounded brighter but not really any livelier. It was probably more disappointing the second time around!

It doesn't surprise me. It's a difficult time to sell guitars and POA gives the store some agility in the face of day to day fluctuations.

I had also wanted to mention a couple of other things earlier but didn't have time. For the chorus sound, depth and speed are the key factors. Jeff mentions that he likes the EBS Unichorus because it preserves the fundamental so whatever chorus you choose, it's worth getting one that doesn't suck up all your tone. Jeff's usual chorus tone uses a fast speed and shallow depth for a sound that adds 'shimmer' and colour. If you slow the speed of the chorusing down too much, you'll notice you lose definition on quicker passages and it doesn't sound 'tight'. Jeff really ramped up his use of chorus post 2000, when he started a run of jazz albums. In this setting, he was backed by Richard Drexler on an upright bass and the bass guitar took the lead role, playing horn-like lines. A lot of these were soaked in this very distinctive chorus and post 1997 saw Jeff really develop his legato style. As for amp choices that'll suit you, anything with a 15" and no tweeter will be a good start but the Markbass 15" is a lot tighter and middier than you might expect. I used to despise fifteens up until I tried the Markbass Jeff Berlin combo and found it was nothing at all like the floppy-sounding bass bins of the past. Without a tweeter, you don't get that whistle-like, super crisp high end but your highs are present, they're just softer than you might expect. It's not the amp to use if you want super crisp, bell-like slap tones but it gets the sounds I want. I get a very modern tone with my Bogart Blackstone but it's not SWR-esque!

I may be able to offer some insight on this as I am something of an obsessive on the Jeff Berlin sound. It's always been a sound that I loved and since returning to bass full time in 2015 after a couple of years off, it has been the sound that I craved and sought to recreate in my playing. Of course, there are different eras of Jeff's sound but the key ingredients in getting his basic tone remain the same. Essentially, it's 15" cabs with no tweeters, an alder bodied bass with Bartolini pickups and a high mass bridge. Sometimes, but not always using a bit of chorus and almost exclusively using the bridge pickup with the tone rolled slightly back (it's worth noting that his 'blonde' bass had the neck pickup disconnected for many years before it was stolen). For reference, my rig is the Markbass CMD151P Jeff Berlin combo, with a Cort Rithimic 4 string and Peavey Palaedium in amber, as per what Jeff played from the early 90's until he signed with Dean Guitars. I also use a TC Electronic Corona Chorus pedal, I am reliably informed that this was Jeff's chorus pedal for years, although Jeff now uses an EBS Unichorus. You can read interviews where Jeff talks about why he no longer endorses the brand, though he never names TC Electronic directly. It boils down to a dispute over loaning a pedal at a trade show where Jeff was demonstrating for them, and I do not propose to expand on this matter here. I will note the varying eras by which I define Jeff's tone: Bruford era - black Jazz bass and 'Blonde' bass. Due to the production techniques of the late 70's, the early Bruford tones aren't massively defined. The black jazz bass was retired at some stage and by the early 80's Jeff was recording almost exclusively with what I call the 'blonde' bass. This was an alder precision body with two Bartolini humbuckers. The neck pickup became static at some point and was disconnected and in later years, the control knobs for this pickup were removed from the bass. The neck was a Fender Jazz neck reprofiled by Michael Tobias (Jeff used a Tobias bass for the live shows with AWBH band). The Bartolini humbuckers were wound by Bill Bartolini to Jeff's specification and sounded tremendous. The tone was middy, but the recordings of the day don't capture the 'nasal' upper mid quality which later records did. This same bass was used on Jeff's first two solo records. Around this time, Jeff was playing Yamaha amps and appeared in some promotional material with Billy Sheehan. The 90's - Peavey years - Jeff signed with Peavey and had the Palaedium signature bass made. The earlier basses used a different logo to the later instrument - look for the difference in a cursive, scrolled 'Palaedium' script against a more angular font. it is still unclear as to whether or not the pickups inside the basses are Bartolini. It is my belief that they are Peavey pickups. They are rather brighter and clearer than the Barts, with a little less warmth and a bump in the upper-mid character. For 1997's 'Taking Notes', Jeff noted that the bridge pickup was a little too close to the strings and created some interference on the record, though this is barely perceptible. By the end of this era, Jeff was getting more heavily into chorus. For whatever reason, by the end of 90's his Peavey basses had black tape over the Peavey logo. The 00's - Dean Guitars - The Dean instruments sounded very bight and nasally. They had an ebony board (like the Palaedium) but also Bartolini pickups. They had a beautiful singing quality to them. I understand that Jeff's instruments were made at Dean Guitars in Florida by someone called 'Mike', but I have been unable to find further info on this to date. There was a 'Grinch' bass, which had a slightly thicker than normal body. This had a top compromised of many different exotic woods. One ended up being sold to a TB'er in Florida (this was an early prototype) and another was sold by Jeff as part of his fundraising for the Jack Bruce project. Current day - Jeff now uses the Cort Rithimic. This includes Bartolini pickups wound to the original specifications of the pickup he designed with Bill Bartolini, after the original schematic for the pickups was recovered after many years being lost. The BadAss II bridge was replaced with a Babicz. It hangs on the body more like a traditonal jazz bass whereas the Palaedium and Dean tend to sit a little more in-board on the body. If you listen to 'Joe Frazier Round 3' you'll note that the bass sound is a little darker and punchier in the low mids. The Cort sound has serious balls, with a little more 'thump' than the earlier Palaedium and Dean. I think it sounds more like the 'blonde' bass and so it suits me to have both. One notes that Jeff does set his tone rolled back slightly, as in the instructional videos for his reading course, he has purple tape on the bass to keep the tone knob in the right place (ie, neither fully open nor closed). Over years of owning many, many basses, I am convinced that the Rithimic and the Palaedium are the best basses I have ever played and I would struggle to choose a favourite between the two. The trick is to use hand positioning to modulate your sound. When Jeff walks, he plays closer to the neck and returns to the bridge for superior control over the length and tone of the note. Jeff has always played with a low action and light strings (DR DDT .40 - .100). I recall a post from a Talkbass user who had played one of Jeff's Palaediums at a trade show and recalled that the action was so low he struggled to get a clean note out of it, but Jeff was able to make it sing with his controlled touch. I note that his touch these days is more refined than it has ever been. The bridge pickup is absolutely key.

I don't think that playing demo served the bass particularly well.

I really liked my old ACG Harlot S Type and I loved the electronics but they were a serious detriment to my playing. They were so flexible and full of tones that I regularly wasted playing time just fiddling and crafting tones or trying to dial in the sound I had played with for five minutes the week before! That said, I'm maybe not as keen on the newer ACG designs. A lot of them seem to be made of very dark, almost muddy looking woods these days and the satin finishes tend to accentuate that because they don't reflect light like a clearcoat does. I would love to see Alan use more bright amboyna burl, sycamorr and flamed maple in future and put a bit of colour back into things. I suppose the choices are made by the customer, in the end.

I discovered Shawn Lane's music a couple of years after he died. I was annoyed that I hadn't realised I was sharing the earth with that sort of genius.

Surely Status would have sorted the delamination? That sounds like a manufacturing defect.

'Hold Your Fire' and 'Power Windows' are the ones for me.

I wouldn't say I hated It, but I did have a Zoot fretless for a while that was pretty disapponting. It had a maple body and a carbon fibre neck, with a single Bartolini MM style humbucker in the sweet spot and a piezo circuit. It sounded like a dream recipe, but the total was rather less than the sum of it's parts. The body was really heavy (even for maple) and the tone was a bit flat and dead sounding. It played nicely enough but it just wasn't the bass for me and I didn't keep it that long. I think part of my disappointment was fuelled by the fact it replaced a really nice fretless Alembic Epic 5 string bass that had a really vibrant sound and was simply but beautifully made. I missed the Alembic. https://i.imgur.com/scfWRYT.jpg