Abbey Road... BUT, It's Just Bass

[Richie Se7en]

I caught this on YouTube and came here to share it. I found someone had posted it within a different thread, but thought it deserved top billing - if only for those like myself who haven't discovered it until now.

Enjoy!

 

[hennessybass]

Just came across this, and was going to post a thread... you beat me to it.

Pretty cool.
I'm always surprised how much distortion is on studio bass tracks.

 

[JohnArnson]

Nice bass, though that Höfner sure has some seriously cringy intonation issues.

Especially obvious in the song where you set the video to start.

 

[keyboardguy]

Are the Bass tracks REALLY that distorted? Or just this transcription?

 

[Alkali Ike]

I suspect these isolated tracks have gone through multiple rounds of lossy compression, which doesn’t do anything good for the audio quality.

 

[Gorn]

I suspect these isolated tracks have gone through multiple rounds of lossy compression, which doesn’t do anything good for the audio quality.

Ya I don't think the Beatles would've gone very far with that bass tone.

 

[stuntbass77]

Just came across this, and was going to post a thread... you beat me to it.

Pretty cool.
I'm always surprised how much distortion is on studio bass tracks.

A little dirt is key to cutting through the mix ( shhh...don’t tell anyone I told you, pinky swear? ).

 

[Richie Se7en]

Nice bass, though that Höfner sure has some seriously cringy intonation issues.

I'm pretty sure Abbey Road is all Ricky and some Fender Jazz sprinkled in by George... from all I've heard or read.


~R7~

 

[JohnArnson]

I'm pretty sure Abbey Road is all Ricky and some Fender Jazz sprinkled in by George... from all I've heard or read.


~R7~

Some of it is obviously not a Höfner violin bass, but some of it, like the song that plays at the point where this video has been set to start when you press play, is pretty obviously a Höfner, and pretty obviously not intonated correctly, or at least it suspiciously much sounds that way to me.

I might still be wrong though.

Actually listening to the bass that plays where the video is set to start once again it does indeed have a brighter and much more biting kind of tone than you usually would be able to get from a Höfner violin bass, and than I remember it as from my first listen, but on the other hand it still has some of that characteristic hollow body woody thumb of a violin bass to it, so guess it either still could be a Höfner, perhaps with only the bridge pickup engaged, and maybe additionally EQ'ed that way as well, or you might indeed be right and it could just be a muted Rickenbacker.

But no matter what bass it actually is it sounds even pretty badly out of tune to me, exactly in the way it would sound with totally off intonation, which the Höfner violin bass kind of is more prone to, thanks to it's relatively primitive and poorly adjustable bridge.

 

[JRA]

i'm not sure what we're learning (or trying to learn) here: anyone care to enlighten? thanks.

 

[ricardol]

From the YouTube comments:

0:00 Come Together (Paul, Rickenbacker 4001)
4:25 Something (Paul, Hofner 500/1)
7:27 Maxwell's Silver Hammer (George, Fender Bass VI)
10:55 Oh! Darling (Paul, Hofner 500/1)
14:28 Octopus' Garden (Paul, Rickenbacker 4001)
17:19 I Want You (She's So Heavy) (Paul, Hofner 500/1)
25:32 Here Comes The Sun (Paul, Rickenbacker 4001)
28:42 Because
31:55 You Never Give Me Your Money (Paul, Rickenbacker 4001)
35:12 Sun King (Paul, Hofner 500/1)
37:40 Mean Mr Mustard (Paul, Rickenbacker 4001)
38:47 Polythene Pam (Paul, Hofner 500/1)
39:58 She Came In Through The Bathroom Window (Paul, Hofner 500/1)
42:00 Golden Slumbers (George, Fender Bass VI)
43:27 Carry That Weight (George, Fender Bass VI)
45:03 The End (Paul, Rickenbacker 4001)
47:12 Her Majesty (Paul, Rickenbacker 4001, since it's actually a clip from the end of Mean Mr Mustard)

 

[bassdude51]

Nice bass, though that Höfner sure has some seriously cringy intonation issues.

Especially obvious in the song where you set the video to start.

I'm pretty sure Abbey Road is all Ricky and some Fender Jazz sprinkled in by George... from all I've heard or read.

Yeah, on at least one song, the intonation (or out of tune) on the bass is so obviously off that it sounds like a fretless bass.

Yes, I read somewhere and I'm not gonna confirm it that Harrison played bass on one song and used a Fender VI guitar/bass. Seems like I read that John played bass on Polythene Pam. Perhaps one of us Beatles experts can chime in.

 

[Richie Se7en]

Oh, my bad... I didn't know I had it starting somewhere other than the beginning. It's odd because I do that sometimes when sending a clip, but I didn't click the 'start time' box as I would. Hmmm

 

[THE SAW]

Pacing on Sgt. Pepper much better, Sir Paul! lol! Some tasty stuff on this as well....