Beatles Bass Amp Settings on Sgt. Peppers?

[Joseph Buxton]

Hey everyone, I am new here but so far it has been a great experience.

So I have a question. I am a huge Beatles fan, and I recently bought myself a Hofner Bass. I dialed in some settings on the bass itself, but does anyone know what amp settings to dial in to get a sgt. peppers bass tone? Mids, Bass, Treble, etc.

 

[JLY]

I understand that Paul used his Ric and not the Hofner on Sgt Pepper

Sorry!

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

From Geoff Emerick's book, Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles (he was chief engineer on the Sgt. Pepper album), page 170:

"In turn, it was Paul's desire for perfection that enabled me to finally come up with a recording technique that yielded the ultra-smooth bass sound he and I had been pursuing for years. The key was that we would move his bass amp out of the baffles and into the center of the studio; I would then place a microphone about six feet away. With the studio empty, you could actually hear a little bit of the ambience of the room around the bass, which really helped; it gave the sound a certain roundness and put it into its own space. The sound we crafted effectively transformed the bass from a supporting rhythm instrument into a lead instrument."​

He continues,

"There was one other unorthodox thing I would do with Paul's bass, and that occurred during the mixing stage. Most recording engineers begin a rock mix by getting the desired balance between the drums and bass--the all-important rhythm section--before adding in the other instruments and the vocals. I got in the habit of bringing the bass track in last. I'd essentially sculpt the bass sound around the other instruments so that you could hear every nuance. Not only is everything in proper balance, but all the individual components that go into the complex sound are carefully shaped to occupy their own sonic space and not interfere with one another."​

Emerick covers many other technical aspects of capturing bass and other Beatles sounds. But in addition to his composition and technique, these two paragraphs seem to be the essence of Paul McCartney's Magic Bass tone that captured us all.