Jaydee Basses

[4000]

12 hours ago, White Cloud said:

Great gig and the Jaydee sounded excellent throughout!

I always found his Jaydees to be far more aggressive-sounding than his other basses, although I love the musicality of the Alembics. The Statii - certainly the Kingbasses anyway - never sounded as good to me. 

[White Cloud]

12 minutes ago, 4000 said:

I always found his Jaydees to be far more aggressive-sounding than his other basses, although I love the musicality of the Alembics. The Statii - certainly the Kingbasses anyway - never sounded as good to me. 

Definitely more grunt to the Jaydee!

[jazzyvee]

Grunt? i read that word a lot relating to bass sounds but have no idea what that means. Can anyone enlighten me please?

[4000]

1 hour ago, jazzyvee said:

Grunt? i read that word a lot relating to bass sounds but have no idea what that means. Can anyone enlighten me please?

It probably means different things to different people but to me, it’s exactly what the word describes. If you imagine something or someone grunting, that’s pretty much it.😉 To try and clarify, I’d say a certain type of aggressive midrange. 

[White Cloud]

7 hours ago, jazzyvee said:

Grunt? i read that word a lot relating to bass sounds but have no idea what that means. Can anyone enlighten me please?

Lol, good point.

 

To me, I'd say the MK Status basses are more 'polite' ... the Jaydee, more like someone that's gatecrashed your party with a six-pack of Carling and then proceeded to hoover up the buffet and quaff all the Champagne! 

 

(Not sure this helps🤣)

[Steve Soar]

 Best post.

[jazzyvee]

1 hour ago, White Cloud said:

Lol, good point.

 

To me, I'd say the MK Status basses are more 'polite' ... the Jaydee, more like someone that's gatecrashed your party with a six-pack of Carling and then proceeded to hoover up the buffet and quaff all the Champagne! 

 

(Not sure this helps🤣)

Nope, can you point me to a youtube video or some other online example of what a Grunt bass sound, sounds like.

[joe_geezer]

14 minutes ago, jazzyvee said:

Nope, can you point me to a youtube video or some other online example of what a Grunt bass sound, sounds like.

no need, just listen to "A PHYSICAL PRESENCE" album and theres your answer

Edited October 22, 2021 by joe_geezer

[4000]

3 hours ago, jazzyvee said:

Nope, can you point me to a youtube video or some other online example of what a Grunt bass sound, sounds like.

Well given we’re discussing Mark King’s Jaydee sound and describing it as having “grunt”, surely that’s the first place to look:

 

 

 

[Geek99]

On 16/03/2019 at 12:59, AndyTravis said:

I had an 88 roadie 2a. Didn’t suit the band I was in at the time. It was lovely though.

So … you … sold it on, right ? Just a wild stab in the dark 😛

[AndyTravis]

7 hours ago, Geek99 said:

So … you … sold it on, right ? Just a wild stab in the dark 😛

Yeah.

 

Do you actively seek out posts I’ve made (in this case 7/8 months ago) to say this sort of thing?

 

It’s wearing thin now.

 

You are aware that people do use this website to buy and sell - some people ONLY use this website to sell their gear…(but that’s a separate issue).

 

There are people who’ve bought and sold 10 times more stuff then me, but for whatever reason, you make these snarky comments, I presume/hope as a joke.

 

I get it. So does everyone else now.

 

Find someone else to pass comment on.

 

👍🏼

Edited October 23, 2021 by AndyTravis

[Geek99]

57 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

Yeah.

 

Do you actively seek out posts I’ve made (in this case 7/8 months ago) to say this sort of thing?

 

It’s wearing thin now.

 

You are aware that people do use this website to buy and sell - some people ONLY use this website to sell their gear…(but that’s a separate issue).

 

There are people who’ve bought and sold 10 times more stuff then me, but for whatever reason, you make these snarky comments, I presume/hope as a joke.

 

I get it. So does everyone else now.

 

Find someone else to pass comment on.

 

👍🏼

Yes it’s intended to be a joke, I apologise if you’re upset 

 

i just don’t get the GAS thing 

Edited October 23, 2021 by Geek99

[AndyTravis]

1 minute ago, Geek99 said:

Yes it’s intended to be a joke, I apologise if you’re upset 

No not upset, I just tutted and rolled my eyes. Nothing a cup of tea won’t resolve.

 

😉

[Geek99]

30 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

No not upset, I just tutted and rolled my eyes. Nothing a cup of tea won’t resolve.

 

😉

Or a new ba… doh !

[jazzyvee]

On 22/10/2021 at 23:03, 4000 said:

Well given we’re discussing Mark King’s Jaydee sound and describing it as having “grunt”, surely that’s the first place to look:

 

 

 

To me that sounds like a distortion/overdriven sound on the bass. So is that what is generically termed as Grunt, any bass sound with overdrive or distortion?

Don't misread my comments I'm not trying to be awkward or criticise anything about anybass or anyone's choice of sound i'm just trying match the terms used to describe a sound with an actual sound that I can recognise on a bass if I hear it. Thanks 👍🏾

[Guest]

Grunt, a presenceful focus higher than rumble and lower than poke.

[joe_geezer]

1 hour ago, jazzyvee said:

To me that sounds like a distortion/overdriven sound on the bass. So is that what is generically termed as Grunt, any bass sound with overdrive or distortion?

Don't misread my comments I'm not trying to be awkward or criticise anything about anybass or anyone's choice of sound i'm just trying match the terms used to describe a sound with an actual sound that I can recognise on a bass if I hear it. Thanks 👍🏾

grunt is confusing, he probably meant "mid growl" 

[Sparky Mark]

Saw Level 42 last night in Cambridge and Mark started with his original and then a newer Supernatural later on the gig. I'm not sure whether my ears became fatigued but the earlier bass had a more aggressive hi mids growl to it. This could've been down to EQ setting on the bass but I definitely preferred the extra presence of the early one shown here. A fantastic night; Mark's playing was as good as I can ever remember with Mike and the rest of the band super tight.

[PaulThePlug]

Bass looks HUGE!

[AndyTravis]

Has there been any “I played my old one so

much I realised that the Jaydee sounded the best” type conversation from him?

 

I know he used the original for more recent recordings etc…

 

I always fancied a downsized version (I know the mk3 is smaller - but it’s still as big as a bb) the mk1 is HUGE hahah.

 

 

[4000]

4 hours ago, jazzyvee said:

To me that sounds like a distortion/overdriven sound on the bass. So is that what is generically termed as Grunt, any bass sound with overdrive or distortion?

Don't misread my comments I'm not trying to be awkward or criticise anything about anybass or anyone's choice of sound i'm just trying match the terms used to describe a sound with an actual sound that I can recognise on a bass if I hear it. Thanks 👍🏾

Well he was using transistor Trace Elliot amps at the time and didn’t use any external distortion, just a delay. 
 

Distortion may be a factor in a ‘grunt’ sound but it’s not required, IMO. I’d say a Warwick Thumb has grunt. As I already said, to me it’s a particular kind of midrange. There are also distorted bass sounds that to me don’t have grunt. I personally wouldn’t say Billy Sheehan’s sound has grunt, but that has distortion.
 

Again as I said previously, if you hear something making a grunting sound, to me it’s just the bass equivalent. I assume you know what a grunt is in terms of a sound made by a person or animal? 

 

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/grunt

[4000]

3 hours ago, joe_geezer said:

grunt is confusing, he probably meant "mid growl" 

I don’t think it’s confusing at all, certainly no more than mid-growl. 

[joe_geezer]

23 minutes ago, 4000 said:

I don’t think it’s confusing at all, certainly no more than mid-growl. 

A jaydee actually can have quite a pronounced mid, obviously with the back pickup soloed but also when both pickups are on it still retains a lot of mids. If you listen to any of Level 42s live albums you can really hear when Mark is slapping the mids really coming through... 

Edited October 24, 2021 by joe_geezer

[4000]

11 minutes ago, joe_geezer said:

Grunt to me can mean anything , its subjective , a p bass can have grunt because it has a scooped sound with  a pronounced top end and then a jazz bass can have grunt because it has pokey mids... its subjective and i'm replying to someone that whats an objective definition of what makes a Jaydee stand out... sorry old chap but grunt isn't helping lol

 

A jaydee actually can have quite a pronounced mid, obviously with the back pickup soloed but also when both pickups are on it still retains a lot of mids. If you listen to any of Level 42s live albums you can really hear when Mark is slapping the mids really coming through...

Every single commonly used description of bass sounds is subjective. Growl has no real more specific meaning than grunt; I’ve been involved in discussions before where growl obviously means different things to different people. In this thread “grunt” was used initially and then queried, not the other way round. 
 

Surely the easiest way of giving a definitive description of what makes a Jaydee stand out is providing an opportunity to listen to one. That’s going to be far more informative than trying to describe it; as we were describing a specific player using a specific bass and sound, it’s surely much easier to listen to that as an example. Once heard, you can then apply the word to that sound. Trying to explain that sound in words when you can actually listen to an example seems pointless.  

FWIW, having owned and played both Alembics and Jaydees, Jaydees are typically more aggressive IMO. 
 

 

 

[White Cloud]

1 hour ago, PaulThePlug said:

Bass looks HUGE!

I thought that too. Although in fairness Mark is not a particularly sizeable fella! 

 

He did refer to the original as,  'The Old Girl' a couple of times in Glasgow.

Edited October 24, 2021 by White Cloud
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