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John Deacon's PBass tone?

quadrogong

quadrogong

Jul 6, 2006
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NYC
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#1
Anyone know anything about John Deacon's gear? was that a pre cbs PBass? his main bass?
i read in wikepidia that it was a '67..


how would one go about recreating that tone without spending a mint?

RI Fender? 70's Fender?
the '67 was a transitional year,they say..
was there a particular pu placement or anything different about these?

I'm looking into a Valenti custom,Sadowsky Hybrid(I like a 1.5 nut or close to it)
gonna check out Fender Japan's stuff,figure I can always upgrade the pu's,bridge..

Did he use flats on most of those classic Queen recordings?
I just listented to "The Game"..that TONE!
 
#2
I read about it in bass player magazine, but I can't remember the year of his P bass. I read somewhere that he liked musicman basses a little later.

"Killer Queen," seems to me is P-bass with flats all the way. Perfection.

"Another One Bites the Dust" is a tone that's a little more difficult to nail. I think there is a keyboard playing in unison after the first few bars that really fattens it up. I'm willing to be that he used a Stingray on that song..
 
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#5
I actually had the 7 inch single of "Bites The Dust" and I believe he was holding a Kramer... Acoustic amp or maybe a Sunn... definitely a Sunn cab... doesn't mean he used that on the record but to see him without a Fender design in his hand is just weird... :)
 
#6
My impression is that his P tone was a perfect example of someone who just had the tone in their hands, but also was a product of the era, running through whatever killer classic mic pre/compressor/limiter/DI they had going on. There's some serious tube/transformer mojo going on in that tone. Maybe there was an amp involved too, I dunno.
His P w/flats tone was to die for.
I think you just need a good solid P, find the right flats for you, and then start experimenting with different pres and DIs.
I'm FINALLY starting to get to where I can get something like that tone now that I have a REDDI, and I've tried all kinds of things over the years.
 
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#10
Live Killers had a few pics of the man playing Stingrays as well as a P- IIRC... I'm certain about the MM though. I was pretty unaware of basses at the time(80 or so, been playing for a couple of years)& that round pickguard made me look twice.
Plus a bazillion on JD's tone. In those days I thought his stuff was pretty simplistic, but I wasn't trying to play it then. :D
 
#13
Chris Breese said:
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As much as I dig John Deacon, I love Freddy's voice as much or more. I don't care what anyone says, best lead singer ever. In my opinion.
Click to expand...
Freddy..yeah,everything he's ever sang is amazing,I even dig his solo stuff..u can utoob those guys for hours..their entire Wembly show is on YT
I'm after a tone like that now,or something similar..
..definitely all in the fingers,whoever said that..
I'm thinking of trying a glaub too,they have some 1.5'ers too..
 
#14
quadrogong said:
...how would one go about recreating that tone without spending a mint?

RI Fender? 70's Fender?
the '67 was a transitional year,they say..
was there a particular pu placement or anything different about these?
...
Click to expand...

The pickup placement has been the same since 1957.

I think an Alder/Rosewood Precision should be the first choice, but I'm sure you could easily nail it even with an Ash/Maple. If your hands allows you, of course!

In the end I think that any P-bass would do the job, once it has an AlNiCo split coil (I'd stay away from Ceramic pickup or even AlNiCo's with scooped mids), and flatwounds would greatly help
 
#19
i just got all my queen cds out and am looking at the pictures... in queen there is a collage and in one of the pictures he is holdins a P it seems... in the album sheer heart attack there's a live picture and again a p bass, butterscotch i think.... in a night at the opera there's yet another live picture, can't tell if it's a jazz or a precision but it's different color than the previous pictures, this is sunbrurst...in a day at the races he is holding the same p bass as in sheer heart attack i think, in fact it says in the sleeve notes he is playing a "FENDER BASS"... no pics on news of the world... in the album jazz tehre's a pic of a big studio either montreaux or nice (were tha album was recorded according to the info) there are a few basses on stands, i think i recognize three p basses and a musicman stingray i'd say... live magic a black p bass.. no pics on the works... no pics on the miracle... no pics on hot space.. i don't have the other albums.
 
#20
stingray.jpg
 

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