“Jack had this roaring, growling thing that would start at the bottom and twine all the way up. I’d never heard bass like it”: A guide to the basses, amps, and signature tone of Jefferson Airplane bassist Jack Casady

Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen perform with Hot Tuna at the Furthur Festival in Veneta, Oregon - July, 1996.

From 1965 to 1972, Jack Casady stretched the art and technology of the electric bass faster and farther than anyone ever had before. Casady revolutionized the instrument and helped to create the ‘San Francisco sound’ with Jefferson Airplane, before forming Hot Tuna with guitarist Jorma Kaukonen.

“Jack had this roaring, growling thing that would start at the bottom and twine all the way up,” said singer Grace Slick, answering a question about why she joined Jefferson Airplane in 1966. (The quotation appears in the booklet for Jefferson Airplane Loves You). “I’d never heard bass like it.”