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Hofner Icon Control Settings

#2
McCartney almost always uses the neck pickup only. Volume control wide open. Since the bridge pickup is off, it doesn't matter what you do with that knob. Looking at your switches in the picture, you need to have SOLO, BASS ON, TREBLE where it is. If that doesn't work, try reversing the BASS and TREBLE positions. And play with a pick, close to the neck. This will give you the legendary Beatles/Hofner thud. If you want more attack, turn on the bridge pickup but roll back the volume. I do this and it sounds dead on like Paul.
 
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#4
mccartneyman said:
McCartney almost always uses the neck pickup only. Volume control wide open. Since the bridge pickup is off, it doesn't matter what you do with that knob. Looking at your switches in the picture, you need to have SOLO, BASS ON, TREBLE where it is. If that doesn't work, try reversing the BASS and TREBLE positions. And play with a pick, close to the neck. This will give you the legendary Beatles/Hofner thud. If you want more attack, turn on the bridge pickup but roll back the volume. I do this and it sounds dead on like Paul.
Click to expand...

What he said!

I use that setting, and LaBella Beatle flatwounds fer sher.

On my Ampeg B100R amp, I set all knobs at 12 noon. Also, engage ultra low and ultra mid on that amp!
 
#5
Ok, I tried that and it made a huge improvment. I was putting my thumb on the bridge P/U and playing from there, sounded like crap. Putting my thumb on the neck P/U and playing close to the neck really brought out the thumpy lows.

Thanks again.:)
 
#6
The settings I keep on my ICON B bass are as follows:

For switches, I keep both bass and treble on. I prefer the third switch to stay on "rhythm" but may switch to "solo" if I want to add a little overdrive (as in the intro for "Come Together.")

I keep the front pickup on 3/4 and the bridge pickup on 1/4. Looking at your photo, that would move the front volume knob to 3 o'clock and the rear volume knob to 9 o'clock -- so the lines on the knobs face each other.

You've got great strings for that Beatle sound. I play with a pick just behind the neck pickup. Gets me real close to classic McCartney.

Good luck. These are great little basses.
 
#7
I've found that the controls don't really matter as much as flats do. If you don't have flats you won't get near the McCartney sound of the "Come Together" era. That said, as McCartneyman said, use the bridge pickup with volume all the way up. Experiment, play with the controls and see what you like best. You may find that you like it even if it doesn't sound exactly as McCartney did.
 

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