Audio Fact of the Week - November 15, 2025

Fun, Strange Fact: Paul Jackson's Four-Amp Bass Rig

Paul Jackson's iconic bass playing on Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters album came from a wildly impractical setup.

When Paul Jackson was with Herbie Hancock, he used a Fender Telecaster bass that was modified by a Chinese violin maker. According to Jackson:¹

"I had four of what they now called Bartolini pickups, but when I bought them they were called Hi-A's. It had no volume or tone controls, but it had four channels with a separate output for each string. I had four Polytone amps; two with 12-inch speakers and two with 15's, which allowed me to balance each string. I really liked the concept, but it was a bit impractical having to carry around all of that equipment."

The studio solution: Fred Catero, engineer at Wally Heider Studios for the Head Hunters album, took each string's individual output and mixed them all to center to create the unique, fat bass sound you hear on that timeless album.²

This technique gave unprecedented control over each string's tone, contributing to the revolutionary bass sound on tracks like "Watermelon Man" and "Chameleon."

Listen

Head Hunters (1973) - Available on all streaming platforms

• Watermelon Man
• Chameleon
• Sly
• Vein Melter

Footnotes

#daily #pauljackson #headhunters #bass #studiofact

Footnotes

1. Guitar World: Paul Jackson Interview↗ - Four Bartolini Hi-A pickups, four Polytone amps quote ↩

2. r/Bass: Paul Jackson's Bass on Head Hunters↗ - Fred Catero mixed each string output to center ↩