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Independent research by truerecs. Not affiliated with, endorsed or verified by Jaco Pastorius. Every item links to its public source.
13 items · Last checked

What bass does Jaco Pastorius play?

Jaco Pastorius was seen using his defretted 1962 Fender Jazz Bass, the Bass of Doom, plus a 1966 and a 1960 Jazz Bass, through Acoustic 360 amps with an MXR rack delay. On Heavy Weather his rig was miked with an Electro-Voice RE-20 and his direct signal ran through a Universal Audio 1176.

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What bass gear Jaco Pastorius uses: a sourced gear guide

Independent research by truerecs: every item links to the public source it comes from.

Basses

8 items

Amps

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Effects

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Recording

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Questions

About Jaco Pastorius's gear.

What bass did Jaco Pastorius play?

His main bass was a 1962 Fender Jazz Bass he defretted himself, known as the Bass of Doom. He also played a fretted 1966 Jazz Bass, a 1960 two-tone sunburst Jazz Bass with the pickguard removed and a Larry Breslin fretless acoustic bass.

What amp did Jaco Pastorius use?

He moved from a 200-watt Sunn rig as a teenager to the Acoustic 360 and 361 with its 18-inch folded horn cabinet, and later ran two of them at once.

What effects did Jaco Pastorius use?

He ran an MXR rack-mounted delay through one amp while the other stayed dry, which gave a chorus-like sound, and used its sampling function to loop passages on songs like Slang.

What strings did Jaco Pastorius use?

On the Havona session for Heavy Weather he had new Rotosound roundwound strings on his fretless 1962 Jazz Bass.

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Jaco Pastorius
About this guide · Last checked

Jaco Pastorius (1951 to 1987) was the fretless bass pioneer of Weather Report and Joni Mitchell records. This legacy guide covers the basses, amps and studio chain he was known for, from bass press features.

truerecs put this guide together from public videos, interviews and posts. Each item says how we know and links to the source. Jaco Pastorius didn't write it or choose anything on it. How we source gear guides.

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