Roots Archives Forum

I was curious if anyone could help me figure out a type of instrument that's used in reggae quite a bit. The best way I can describe it is a very bassey harpsichord.

It's easy to pick out 12 seconds into Bob Marley's song "Bend Down Low" on Natty Dread. It joins the melody and is distinctive.
Also, it's used heavily on Ras Michael's album, "Rastafari". It joins the song, "None A Jah Jah Children No Cry", at 16 seconds very clearly.

Please help me out solving this mystery! I really want one! Me and my brother have resorted to calling it, "Jah Organ"

That is a clavinet put through some sort of envelope filter like a wah...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clavinet

Oh I see! Thanks a ton! Same thing they use in funk eh? Man, looked at prices for them. Pricey.

A clavinet, as popularised by Augustus Pablo (Horace Swaby). Best heard in Augustus Pablo's album "King Tubby meets the Rockers Uptown".