McCartney's tone

[jongor]

I've been logging quite a bit of time with the Beatles lately and have once again discovered what a wonderful tone Paul got on their later stuff.

Songs like:
Don't Bring Me Down
Something
Penny Lane

You know the tone.

Is it possible to get anywhere near that tone with a 4003, or does it have to be a 4001? Do the newer 4003's have the mutes?

He obviously used flatwounds, were they Rotosound tapewounds?

 

[Osama_Spears]

i think getting f wounds would definately get you closer to sir paul's sound. good luck.

 

[Lyle Caldwell]

He used Pyramids on the Hofner and Rick, and Fenders on the Jazz Bass (some White Album and Abbey Road tracks). The mutes aren't that important - the flats and pick are.

 

[cheezewiz]

I have a 4003, and with an old set of TI flats, it gets very close to the Macca sound.

 

[iamthebassman]

I play in a Beatles trib band and use a 4001SLH on the songs you listed. Flats for sure. Compression too. And yes, you can get that sound from a new 4003, and they still have mutes.

 

[nysbob]

I was looking at this pic of Paul & noticed that he was set on just the bridge pickup -

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After pondering inability of my 4001 to produce anything remotely usable on a track set this way, I proceeded to do the cap bypass and string it up with flats. Wow. A world of difference. I'm gonna try it on a session tonight.

 

[SethD]

I play in a Beatles trib band and use a 4001SLH on the songs you listed. Flats for sure. Compression too. And yes, you can get that sound from a new 4003, and they still have mutes.

Hey iamthebassman,

I spent some time on your band's site. Very cool. What amplifier(s) do you use live to approximate McCartney's sound?

Thanks,
Seth

 

[Philbiker]

I play in a Beatles trib band and use a 4001SLH on the songs you listed. Flats for sure. Compression too. And yes, you can get that sound from a new 4003, and they still have mutes.

Wow I've seen this pic of your painted Rick a bunch of times and this is the first time I ever noticed it's strung right handed. Gerald V Casale style! Cool!

 

[iamthebassman]

Hey iamthebassman,

I spent some time on your band's site. Very cool. What amplifier(s) do you use live to approximate McCartney's sound?

Thanks,
Seth

Seth, for the past 5 years or so I've been using a Roland DB700 bass combo. it's the size of a '60s Vox Foundation bass cab, and I've put Vox grill cloth and Vox namepate on it so it looks the part.
It has a 15" and tweeter, 250 watts, nice compressor, and COSM modelling for a nice tube amp sound. The coolest feature: it has two presets you can save your settings to. I have one set for the Hofner bass, and the other for the Ric.

 

[iamthebassman]

Wow I've seen this pic of your painted Rick a bunch of times and this is the first time I ever noticed it's strung right handed. Gerald V Casale style! Cool!

Yep, I learned on a "borrowed" Fender Jazz played upside-down, so by the time I got my own bass I was used to playing that way.
Funny, I got to meet Gerry around 1980/81 when Devo played the Armadillo here in Austin.

 

[SethD]

Seth, for the past 5 years or so I've been using a Roland DB700 bass combo. it's the size of a '60s Vox Foundation bass cab, and I've put Vox grill cloth and Vox namepate on it so it looks the part.
It has a 15" and tweeter, 250 watts, nice compressor, and COSM modelling for a nice tube amp sound. The coolest feature: it has two presets you can save your settings to. I have one set for the Hofner bass, and the other for the Ric.

That's great. I read somewhere that the Fab Faux disguises their amps in a similar fashion.