Anymore Jack Cassidy bass fans in here?

[Nitro Express]

One of the first guys to bring the bass out front and still playing and gigging. I have one of his basses and they kick ass!

www.casadybass.com

[rocknrolldork]

I had one of those basses for awhile. I was playing alt-country at the time and loved the sound of it and the way it played. No matter what I did I could not get the intonation right on it. I had one of the best setup guys in Indy set it up about a week before going into the studio. I recorded an entire day's bass lines that sounded ok through the cans but when played back in the control room at the end of the day, it was off just enough to drive me crazy. Maybe I could have kept on using it live but it just hung on my wall after that. I sold it for another Jazz bass. Now I wish I would have kept the Rivoli just to have it.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i265/rocknrolldork/imn_1_5_02_20.jpg

[Nitro Express]

I have the Jack Casady signature model and it has a three point bridge and I haven't had any problems. Jack said he had a custom Guild Starfire in the Jefferson Airplane days. You can see him playing it at the Altamont show LOL! The problem was the scale was short he picked up a Gibson hollowbody bass in the early 70's and he liked the sound but the pickups didn't work well in the mix with other instruments. He then went to solid body basses made in San Francisco by the guys who customized his other bases.

Jack said the problem was Gibson quality control in the early 70's was horrible! In the 90's he wanted to go back to a hollowbody bass since those kind of guitars were becoming popular again and he approached Gibson. He hit it off with the guy who ran Epiphone and they started working on a bass. Jack said he worked with Gibson's top pickup expert in Nashville two years just to get the pickup right and they searched for a varitone transformet that would work.

Unlike most Epiphones, the electronics in the Jack Casady model are top notch. Good pots and everything. Jack said it's beyond him why companies put crappy pots in guitars when the good pots only cost a dollar more.

Anyways, I saw him playing a Hot Tuna show here in Wyoming and I was tottaly floored by his bass tone and playing. I started listening to some of the old Jefferson Airplane stuff and the guy was kicking ass! Jack was the guy who played bass on Voodoo Chile on the Electricladyland album. He said he jammed with Hendrix and that song made it on the album.

[Nitro Express]

Jack blowing some bass from a Guild Starfire bass and lots of Fender amps at Altamont. I asked if he bedded Grace Slick and he said almost everyone in the band got a slice of Grace at one time or another. LOL!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOWYML7ueQs

[rocknrolldork]

I just watch the Classic Albums Electric Ladyland last night. Jack Casady is one of the greats for sure.

You are talking about the Fender amps from Altamont........ I got my Super Bassman running but it's too old to take on the road or use in club shows. Sounds killer though. When Fender came out with the Bassman there really wasn't a such thing as a bass amp so they made the guitar amps bigger and louder. (Probably part of the reason guitarists like them too.) The Super Bassman is double the power of the regular bassman. With the Ampeg 8 x 10 and a Fender Jazz it can really nail the John Paul Jones tones. It doesn't have the force of an SVT but it does sound really good when the tubes are nice and hot. The tone is completely different from the SVT. The SVT has a more dynamic range in the eq. There isn't a whole lot of shaping you can do with those old Fender heads. Which is fine because they sound great naturally when every thing is cranked. Hearing the Altamont stuff and the Hendrix stuff last night really helps me dime in on what Jack Casady had going on tonally.

What other basses do you have Nitro?

[Nitro Express]

Jack was starting to play Sunn amps. You know everyone was looking for extra juice in those days but I think at Altamont there was all Fender gear up there. I just love the sound of his bass before all hell breaks loose with the Hell Angels. LOL!

[Nitro Express]

I really don't have a bass amp. I'm a guitar player who got thrown into the bass position out of necessity and I know enough amp history to know the famouse bassman never was a guitar amp. I have a Sovtek MIG 50 and a Sovtek Midget 50 H. I A/B to both and both are running Avitar 4x10 cabs. I'm running into the trebble channel on the MIG and on the low input on the Miget. Damn. They sound pretty good actually! With my Spector and Jack Casady Signature I got all the bases covered. I put the Varitone on the Jack Casady to 500 and I fucking own the room! Pure power!

[Nitro Express]

But I like the rig I got going now and I have plenty of power especially since we have a good PA. I mean I could do what Geddy Lee is doing and go right into the board but I like the rehtro sound of the tube amps but I can just dial the bass back and get any tone I really want that is usable for the band.

What's cool is going the old route you can use the same amp for guitar and bass. Marshall plexis sound cool with bass too. I have a Metropolos 67 kit build but it's too preciouse to take out. If my Sovteks get pilfered no big deal.

[Nitro Express]

The Sovtek Midget 50K has a line out so I always can put that signal through a power amp to run more cabs if needed. That little brick has amazing balls with the Jack Cassidy bass. It sounds like heaven and hell! I love it!

[Eddie's Booze]

Ok, Ok, Ok....here is a real Bass Player!!!!

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Enjoy!

:D

[Nitro Express]

Yup. Nobody rakes the strings faster than Billy Sheehan. The guy is good.