what kind of bass guitar is this?

[Basvarken]

In this performance of Robert Palmer anno 1980




Looks like the bass player isn't really plucking the strings with his right hand but rather just touching them or just putting his fingers on 'em.
And there's a whole lot of knobs. Is it a very early synth bass?

[Pilgrim]

Amazing how much his voice sounds like Huey Lewis in that clip!

Looks to me like he's playing with his thumb and 1-2 fingers. He may be tapping, but so did the Ox.

[Basvarken]

The Ox hit the strings really hard.
But this guy ( Trevor Horn maybe?) barely touches them.

[ack1961]

Great video quality for 1980.

[Basvarken]

Found it!
It must be the Oncor sound

https://www.matrixsynth.com/2016/12/1980-oncor-sound-bgs-4000-touch-vintage.html?m=1

[ilan]

Bingo

[Pilgrim]

Found it!
It must be the Oncor sound

https://www.matrixsynth.com/2016/12/1980-oncor-sound-bgs-4000-touch-vintage.html?m=1

Yup, I think that's it.

[wellREDman]

thats pretty damn cool

[gearHed289]

Found it!
It must be the Oncor sound

https://www.matrixsynth.com/2016/12/1980-oncor-sound-bgs-4000-touch-vintage.html?m=1

That's a new one on me. The "strings" are similar to the SynthAxe guitar from the mid 80s.

[Basvarken]

Yes, that's what I thought too.

Although that didn't have those rubbery "strings", but metal wires as a trigger.

Oncor Sound:


Synthaxe:

[slinkp]

The Ox hit the strings really hard.

Fellow Ox fanatic here Tangent to this thread, but I believe that when not using a pick, he - most often - hit them really light but really fast.
That's how it looks to me in various films and videos, and after obsessively rewinding "Eminence Front" on VHS as a kid, I was able to approximate it.
I'm not talking about the tapping "typewriter" style he sometimes used, but his more typical right-hand technique.
I would describe it like an inward flick, more of a glancing blow than a hard forceful dig into the strings.
With low action and bright strings it gives that very percussive attack and bright tone by bouncing the string off the frets.

Nothing is constant with Entwistle though, he varied his approach quite a lot.
For instance in the WGFA from Kids are Alright, if you watch the "John cam" he's using this typical technique much of the time, but for the octave A on the third beat of each measure he seems to be giving it a pretty hard pull, like a slapper's "pop".  (He does something similar in the video to "Eminence Front".)  And then at the end of WGFA he plays everything in unison octaves plucking with both thumb and first finger and looks like he's digging in quite hard.

[amptech]

Fellow Ox fanatic here Tangent to this thread, but I believe that when not using a pick, he - most often - hit them really light but really fast.
That's how it looks to me in various films and videos, and after obsessively rewinding "Eminence Front" on VHS as a kid, I was able to approximate it.
I'm not talking about the tapping "typewriter" style he sometimes used, but his more typical right-hand technique.
I would describe it like an inward flick, more of a glancing blow than a hard forceful dig into the strings.
With low action and bright strings it gives that very percussive attack and bright tone by bouncing the string off the frets.

That is the impression I have too. Listening to him and seeing him play, it looks like he has a very light touch most of the time.
I was never able to emulate him though, I was too much into Jack Bruce at the time!

[gearHed289]

I have to agree. Part of why he liked his action so low ("On the other side of the fingerboard"). John's attack really influenced mine after seeing TKAA. Hitting the strings in a way similar to what the hammers in a piano do. FWIW, I personally like more of a medium/low action and I hit and dig in very heavily.

[Basvarken]

I didn't know that. I always thought that his technique where he plays fingerstyle with his right hand at the end of the fret board was almost like slapping. Flicking his fingers really fast on the strings, which does sound a bit like fast slapping.

Anyway, the bass payer with Robert Palmer plays the "strings" extremely light. Just touching them with his finger tips.
Apparently that is the way to play the Oncor Sound BGS 4000.

I found just one other video on YouTube with an Oncor Sound. This is the guitar equivalent.

[uwe]

I remember reading an interview with someone who had played such a contraption on a longer tour and he said it took him months to get his timing back when he reverted back to traditional bass guitar. Tone development was sluggish on these things, hence he had to play ahead of the beat all the time.