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Anyone know how to get a good John Deacon sound?

Ethan Battistel

Ethan Battistel

Mar 4, 2020
29
11
#1
I've got a fender Precision Bass, which John obviously used, and a Fender Rumble LT25, which is good for getting different artists sounds. I know John used Orange amps in his early days, and then switched to Hiwatt (I found a picture whit his actual eq settings for this one), and then Acoustic, then Sunn, then SWR. However, I only have Orange and SWR on my amp. I sort of gravitate towards the earlier Queen sound, so I was wondering if anyone knows how to get an early Queen sound with an Orange, or possibly another amp. I will list the amps available with the LT25.

DI
Fender Rumble
Ampeg B-15NF
Ampeg SVT
Gallien-Krueger 800RB
SWR Redhead
Fender Bassman 300 Pro
Boutique guitar amp
TV-Front Bassman
Fender Dual Showman
Orange
Marshall Super Bass
Marshal JCM800
Fender Super Bassman
 
#2
Here is the picture of him with his Hiwatt amp. I am fairly certain his Eq is Bass: 10, Middle: 5.5, Treble: 6.5
FEE5D6B4-2B64-4D8D-895F-285906B82638.jpeg
 
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#3
I wouldn't worry so much about the amp, like most good bassists he good a very similar sound no matter what he played through, being a P bassist he always got a lot of bottom and mids and he used flatwound strings for almost all his stuff, probably either Rotosound or La Bella's even after his Music Man period in which i think he used round wounds. Any early video of him playing I've seen he always used Acoustic 361's, 301's like the one right behind him in that video, I doubt he's playing through that little Hi Watt unless he's using it as an adjunct. But it's the strings you need and a good amp capable of playing loud clearly with bottom. I saw them live in early 1977 at the Springfield MA Civic Center, quite a show, they were great live. Their show was something like this:
Brian had nine Vox AC-30's all black with one white one in the middle and I'm pretty sure Deacon had Acoustic 361's.
Deacon had two basses at that show, two Fender Precisions, one a fretless.

 
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#4
bobyoung53 said:
I wouldn't worry so much about the amp, like most good bassists he good a very similar sound no matter what he played through, being a P bassist he always got a lot of bottom and mids and he used flatwound strings for almost all his stuff, probably either Rotosound or La Bella's even after his Music Man period in which i think he used round wounds. Any early video of him playing I've seen he always used Acoustic 361's, 301's like the one right behind him in that video, I doubt he's playing through that little Hi Watt unless he's using it as an adjunct. But it's the strings you need and a good amp capable of playing loud clearly with bottom. I saw them live in early 1977 at the Springfield MA Civic Center, quite a show, they were great live. Their show was something like this:
Brian had none Vox AC-30's all black with one white one in the middle and I'm pretty sure Deacon had Acoustic 361's.
Deacon had two basses at that show, two Fender Precisions, one a fretless.

Click to expand...

I have Fender 9050L flatwounds on my bass right now, which make a huge difference towards getting a closer sound. The closest sound I've gotten was with the Orange amp, but I'm just getting a very dead sort of sound. If you go to 2:10 in the video that's the sort of sound I'm looking for.
 
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#5
Ethan Battistel said:
I have Fender 9050L flatwounds on my bass right now, which make a huge difference towards getting a closer sound. The closest sound I've gotten was with the Orange amp, but I'm just getting a very dead sort of sound. If you go to 2:10 in the video that's the sort of sound I'm looking for.
Click to expand...


The first thing that apparent to me is his attack during that part, he is hitting the strings very hard actually almost sounds like he's slapping them (I don't mean in the modern sense, just that he's really whacking them quickly with his fingertips and not digging in under the string) during that part which could account for that sound, then he seems to let up a little bit starting when the vocals come back in. The best thing about playing a one pickup P bass bass is that you learn how to get all different kinds of sounds out of a bass by the way you vary your attack and where you play, closer to the bridge or closer to the neck etc. I think the differing sounds you hear in that record (besides the two fuzz parts) are just him playing hard in places and softer in others, I'm a P bass player too started out with a P bass years ago. You may want to try roto flats? That's probably what he used.
Incidentally I'm 67 and can still remember hearing this song for the first time when it was first released in 1973, I was 20, I thought it was the coolest tune I'd ever heard and was the first Queen tune I ever heard.
 
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#6
bobyoung53 said:
The first thing that apparent to me is his attack during that part, he is hitting the strings very hard actually almost sounds like he's slapping them (I don't mean in the modern sense, just that he's really whacking them quickly with his fingertips and not digging in under the string) during that part which could account for that sound, then he seems to let up a little bit starting when the vocals come back in. The best thing about playing a one pickup P bass bass is that you learn how to get all different kinds of sounds out of a bass by the way you vary your attack and where you play, closer to the bridge or closer to the neck etc. I think the differing sounds you hear in that record (besides the two fuzz parts) are just him playing hard in places and softer in others, I'm a P bass player too started out with a P bass years ago. You may want to try roto flats? That's probably what he used.
Incidentally I'm 67 and can still remember hearing this song for the first time when it was first released in 1973, I was 20, I thought it was the coolest tune I'd ever heard and was the first Queen tune I ever heard.
Click to expand...
Well I'm planning on getting a new bass soon, and I know he used rotos (just bought the fenders cause they were cheaper at the time), so I'll have to get some rotos for my new bass
 
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#9
Ethan Battistel said:
I did play a 2016 Thunderbird once that had flats on it, couldn't tell which ones they were though. They sounded absolutely amazing. Probably rotos or labellas, but I couldn't really tell
Click to expand...

There are so many types now it is hard to tell. The flats on that Queen tune sounded like regular old flat wounds to me, like they had been on his bass for a while. I think if you want that tone just really attack the strings hard. I have tried many types of strings, it's expensive but worth it in the end.
 
#11
Ethan Battistel said:
Here is the picture of him with his Hiwatt amp. I am fairly certain his Eq is Bass: 10, Middle: 5.5, Treble: 6.5View attachment 3818763
Click to expand...

That's Brian's HiWatt. You are over looking the Acoustic rig right behind him.

The most important thing to replicate his early sound IMO are roto flats. But John used various strings and techniques through the years.

Edit: I hadnt read the thread. Sounds like you are on the right track and bobyoung53 offer good observations too.
I can only add: Study his isolated bass tracks that are Youtube, practice a lot practice a lot because one of Johns trademarks was that he was such a consistent player and...welcome to TB.
 
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#12
Ethan Battistel said:
I have Fender 9050L flatwounds on my bass right now, which make a huge difference towards getting a closer sound. The closest sound I've gotten was with the Orange amp, but I'm just getting a very dead sort of sound. If you go to 2:10 in the video that's the sort of sound I'm looking for.
Click to expand...

tone control seems totally backed off here. I 'd say that and hard attack are "the trick".
 
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#14
Kaa said:
Just to revive an old thread, are you looking to reproduce his sound on an album? Because the recording rig could have been very different from the live rig(s).
Click to expand...
I'm looking to get that early Queen album sound. Preferably the sound from Queen up until A Day at the Races. The sound I'm getting out of my amp right now is a bit of a later sound, sort of like Hot Space up to The Miracle. The sounds on each of those albums is slightly different, but for the most part, to me, they sound very similar. The only sounds I really can't get, are those on Jazz and The Game, which is a bit of a shame. Probably has to do with his Stingray, which I don't have.
 
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#16
At one point, he placed DiMarzio pickups on his natural finish P-Bass (you can see those quite clearly on the Flash video). Now, those had white pickup covers, so I don't know if he then switched to black pickup covers or if he changed the pickups altogether.
He also used those DiMarzios pickups on his Kramer bass.
 
#20
He has a Facebook page, "John Richard Deacon", and you could post your question.
Also, his "fan mail address" is:
John Deacon
The Mercury Phoenix Trust
P.O. Box 704
Chesham, HP5 1XF
UK
I couldn't find an email address, but you could delve into it with Google, if you want to.
 

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