Depending on how far you want to take this sound alike vibe, I think that you'll be severely hampered by not using a pick (only in regards to getting the right tone). There's a guy on here named Chris who goes to Berklee and every time there's a McCartney post, he points out how simple his lines are and then I usually bring up "I Saw Her Standing There" and he says he just played it and it's simple. But he's doing it with fingers on roundwounds and not singing it (not to mention not having created it, been the cute one, and starting a cultural revolution), so that's not really playing it, is it? There's a difference between playing the correct notes and really doing something. Besides , he's probably wearing his bass too high and tucking his sweatpants into his socks as well (I kid Chris, we have a good thing going between us) If you want the classic JPJ tone, a lot of that is done with a pick (most of the British players who came out of the same scene played with a pick).
If you're not willing to try that, the other biggest thing you can do to take a step in the right direction is the Rotosound flats. Personally, I hear a lot of tube amp tone in there as well, but I'm sure a lot of that stuff was just recorded directly. One could slightly overdrive the desk back in those days and we probably shouldn't completely overlook the tape compression and/or fabulous valve compressors commonplace in most studios then.
If you're not willing to try that, the other biggest thing you can do to take a step in the right direction is the Rotosound flats. Personally, I hear a lot of tube amp tone in there as well, but I'm sure a lot of that stuff was just recorded directly. One could slightly overdrive the desk back in those days and we probably shouldn't completely overlook the tape compression and/or fabulous valve compressors commonplace in most studios then.
