Ampeg BA112v2 Beatle settings?

Generally speaking, roll off some treble.
More importantly, however, for the beatles-sound aka Paul-sound, is playing flatwound strings with a pick with a bit of palm muting.
(At least that is what Paul McM. is doing all the time...)
There are some Beatle/Paul fans on the forum that can tell more about gear, settings and playing style.

 

Don't obsess with getting Paul's identical tone. He still sounds like himself whatever amplifier he is using.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't even worry too much about the treble roll-off if you have the flatwounds most of the treble is gone - and once the band comes in the treble you hear will disappear and just contribute to a bit of note definition.
The other thing to remember is that our ears are not the same as ears in the 1960s, so if you got a pitch perfect reproduction of his sound and the rest of the band was absolutely perfect in tone and everything else it would sound a little "dull" to our modern ears - so perfection is not the goal - approximation/simulation is the goal - give the audience's and your ears something gives the same experience as his tone would have been.
I learned that in the Elvis tribute band - initially I was totally trying to stay to period correct tones, but in the end I realized the audiences didn't actually want a 100% authentic reproduction of the sound - they wanted what it sounded like to them in their heads - and that had adjusted with their ears to be more modern - a little faster than the originals actually were, a little more distortion (on the guitars) and a louder and more defined bass.

 

I've been in an Elvis-tributeband too, years ago.
Great experience: love the music, great response from the audience, always!

 

Elvis is always around the top of the list of earnings for dead musicians. The last I heard he was #2 with $55 Million behind Michael Jackson at $140 Million.

 

IMO, there's nothing that tops Elvis and the Beatles (with Queen coming close), regarding getting and keeping the audience excited, including the non-fans.

 

Is that what it takes?

 

On a Fender or Ric yes, but Hofners are crazy dark basses amplified. I would turn the treble up to about 2:00, mids somewhere between 1:00 and 2:00, bass down to 10:00, then add a little overdrive with the Scrambler blended in with the clean sound. You might want to experiment a little bit, especially with the mids, but use that as a starting point. You can compare it to the sound of some of McCartney's soloed bass tracks on Youtube.

Of course, in no way am I suggesting that you'll be a dead ringer for McCartney's sound, but this is generally what I do for violin basses when I use them and it seems to work for me.

 

I roll back on the bass because the Hofner can get boomy especially with a amp that has an active EQ.

 

The Hofner 500/1 has an distinctive echoey tone. He used flats and most often a pick.

The action on his instruments is set high and he digs in when he plays. This allows for a lot of tone from the hands.

Look for isolated Beatle bass tracks on youtube.