Legendary: The Funk Machine and day 44

James Jamerson.  Electric bass pioneer.

Some time in the 1960's, James Jamerson's 1957 precision bass was stolen.  By then he had been making money through his studio work, so he was able to purchase a stock 1962 Fender Precision bass.  It was a sumburst '62 with tortoise shell pickguard and a rosewood board.  To help deter any further thefts, he carved the word "Funk" into the heel of the instrument and filled it in with the ink from a ball point pen.  He dubbed it The Funk Machine.

James Jamerson was a studio working musician that played on more number 1 hits than Elvis and The Beatles combined.  Much of his work is uncredited, and a few other prevalent players of the time argue over who did what since the Motown powers that be used multiple takes from any number of  "in house" musicians.  The Funk Machine would be his favorite and most used, and many believe were used for The Temptations, including "My Girl", and  "I heard it Through the Grape Vine" by Gladys Knight.  It was used on virtually every song that Marvin Gay released.

Like any great story of loss, there are conflicting reports about how many basses Jamerson owned, and even when The Funk Machine was lost.  Some say before he went to L.A. and some say after.  Some say the bass did not even make it to the 1980's, and that he had replaced it long before he died.  Like Jaco's Bass of Doom, the Funk Machine was the most common color of its era, and because of its fame among bassists, many copies have been created.

The Funk Machine, to this day, has not been found.

Link to one possible list of Jamerson recordings.


Day 44

I'm on ACDC overload.

My solid state amp is not good at doing the slightly overdriven blues stuff, it pretty much goes into mild distortion, crunch right away.  Which is fine for almost everything ACDC does, but then there's the more bluesy sounding stuff, particularly "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution".  Well recently I dialed in as low gain as would click "on" in the crunch section, lowered the volume to around 8 o'clock, and cranked up the master volume.  It really really nails that Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution tone and I am just in ACDC playing heaven right now.  I can cut the volume on my neck pickup and boost it on the bridge, and go from that to Back in Black very easily.

Hmm.  Maybe I should do a post tomorrow explaining channel volume and master volume.  Its pretty much simulated in a Solid state amp but its necessary to know this stuff with a tube amp.  Maybe I should do a series on basic tone sounds and how to get them?  That can quickly escalate.  I have noticed, growing up, I rarely if ever saw people I knew that sort of played mess with amp settings.  They pretty much just guessed at a spot and stuck with it.  I change my gain and bass knob settings all the time.

As much as I love me some Black Sabbath, if I had to choose one band that I could play and be banned from ever playing another band's music aside from this one, I'd choose ACDC.  I guest that's why my best guitar friend bought me my AC/DC hat.

Protip: ACDC branded merchandise is a rock-boost of +15 db.