Ample Bass Jaco Fretless

Name: Ample Bass Jaco Fretless
Price: 119 USD
Author: Ample Sound

by Ample Sound · Instrument · Sampled fretless bass (Fender Jaco Pastorius Jazz Bass)

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Ample Bass Jaco Fretless (ABJF) is a sampled Fender Custom Shop Jaco Pastorius Relic fretless Jazz Bass that runs in Ample Sound's own plugin.

It has 13 articulations including artificial harmonics, a fretless slide system, a bass amp section and Guitar Pro tab import. It costs $119.

Best for: Bass. Genres: Jazz, Acoustic & Classical, R&B & Soul, Pop.

Keywords: bass instrument, guitar instrument, sample-based, monophonic, modern, polyphonic, smooth, vintage, visual feedback.

What it does

Ample Bass JF samples a Fender Custom Shop Jaco Pastorius Relic fretless Jazz Bass. Ample Sound pitches it as "an essential electric bass instrument for modern music production," with a slide system made for fretless playing.

Articulations: 13 in all: sustain, palm mute, natural harmonic, hammer-on and pull-off, legato slide, slide in, slide out, slap, pop, artificial harmonic, accentuated, repeat note and dead note.
Samples and range: a library with a fingerstyle set, and drop tuning down to B0.
Fretless legato: a polyphonic legato and slide smoother for legato at any interval and speed, built around a fretless slide system.
Riffer 4: a riff editor that switches between piano-roll and tab views, with string visualisation that assigns fingering, technique editing (fingering, articulation, legato, expression), CC and velocity editors with curve presets, MIDI import and export, and hundreds of bass riffs.
Tab Reader 4: imports Guitar Pro GP3 to GP8 files with fingering, articulations and performance data kept.
Amp section: three heads (Vintage-15, Bass-500, Bass-Pro), four cabinets (1x15, 2x10, 4x10, 8x10) and four microphones per cabinet (U87, C414, MD421, SM57).
Effects: 8-band EQ, compressor, delay and convolution reverb.

The product page does not show a version number.

Source: Ample Sound product page

When to use it

Ample Bass JF is the pick when the part needs a real fretless voice: gliding slides, harmonics and singing melodic lines. Compared with MODO BASS 2, which physically models a range of electric basses, JF covers just one instrument but adds sampled fretless slides and a riff editor for writing lines. Trilian covers far more ground with acoustic, electric and synth basses in one instrument, while JF goes deeper on a single fretless Jazz Bass and adds Guitar Pro import. It is a specialist tool rather than an all-round bass.

Best for: melodic fretless lines, slides and harmonics, and bass parts written in tab or imported from Guitar Pro.
Genres: jazz, fusion, soul, R&B and pop ballads.
Look elsewhere if: you want a fretted bass (Ample Bass J) or many bass models in one plugin (MODO BASS 2 or Trilian).

Where to buy

Ample Sound: $119
Plugin Boutique: $119

Tutorials and reviews

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