For the longest I thought he was just going clean with his Hofner , but upon further examination, it sounds like that he is using some kind of overdrive pedal live , and he s been using this for at least 20 years . He gets a very woody tone out of his Hofner live , but it’s not clean . Does anyone know if this is the case ? Is he using an overdrive pedal boost or something ?
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Paul McCartney current live bass tone
- Thread starter ferrante9
- Start date
Example? He’s been using(now)older Mesa Boogie amp rigs for years/decades. Perhaps a bit of push on the preamp?
My Hofner doesn’t sound like that at all clean ….. surely he s got to be using a bit of drive right ?
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Well, what amp(s) do you use? Going through solid state could change the perception.
In that first clip, in spite of the lesser audio/video quality, it doesn’t necessarily sound that dirty to me, and like I mentioned earlier, he uses Mesa heads, the tube monster 400 in particular. That’s probably what may be contributing. Decades ago I had a Club bass, which I ran through a Sunn 200s with 6550’s, that had a similar sound.
I can’t image him using any pedals on bass(guitar maybe).
About 20 years ago, I showed up to work one day, and he happened to be playing a gig there. I should have asked him after sound check, but I really wasn’t paying attention…
Here's what I found use Chat AI:
- Mesa Period (≈ late ’80s–2013): Big, clean, powerful all‑tube rigs (Bass 400, 400+, later Strategy). More aggressive low‑mid punch, more headroom, more “American” clarity.
- Ashdown Period (≈ 2013–present): Warmer, rounder, softer top end. More “Beatles‑correct” for the Hofner. Used on Out There, One on One, and Got Back tours.
So Anyway, you don't need much to overdrive a Hofner w/o any pedals.
But I'm sure Sir Paul has all of the technical support to sound any way he wants to.
But I'm sure Sir Paul has all of the technical support to sound any way he wants to.
I've played a few of those Hofners.. I just do not care for them. When I did try them, I thought they had a great tone, with both pickups on, and they really do sound just like Paul does when you turn the amp up. Remember, there is some additional resonance, and possibly what could be perceived as 'dirt' to his tone, due to the hollow body. I really doubt an old school bass player like Sir Paul would use an overdrive pedal.
Not sure what "overdrive a Hofner" means. Do you mean that Hofners have enough output to push most amps into overdrive?
AFAIK, the "Mesa Period" never ended and continues to this day with his rack-mounted Mesa Strategy heads and custom Mesa cabs. I've at least not seen pictures or videos of him without this rig (but am not religious about watching modern McCartney performances anyway so could be wrong- he is well past his prime, but I'd definitely still go if someone else bought me tickets!). There is always another bass rig on stage for songs where he doesn't play bass, and I do think I've seen an Ashdown rig for the other bassist (Brian Ray I believe?).
Here's a show from Oct, 2025 where you can clearly see his Mesa rig (1 hour 45 minutes mark shows a pretty clear view).
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Yeah almost certainly this! Especially during his Mesa 400 days, pushing the pre on those heads sounds killer!
I saw a while back an Ashdown ad featuring Macca.
Dunno if that was just marketing or an actual endorsement, but their stuff has a nice mildly driven thing going on.
Dunno if that was just marketing or an actual endorsement, but their stuff has a nice mildly driven thing going on.
Where I live now, in the high Mojave Desert, we have this cool roadhouse venue, part of an old Western movie set, that has name acts. Yep, just the kind of place that Paul loves to play pop-up gigs. A few years back, that’s exactly what he did, I knew about it, but didn’t go as I had already had the once-in-a-lifetime experience at the earlier event(plus I got to stand next to Twiggy)and also because I knew that this one was going to be a logistical nightmare to get to, with the smaller scale. Yes, there was celphone video from those who went, and it looks like he might have had a small Ashdown(?) rig(1x12? 1x15?)in front of the drum kit…
That's a Mesa Walkabout combo! Killer amps, the 15" combo is currently my main gig-rig
I love Pappy and Harriets's BTW- I heard about that gig but also didn't bother trying to make it. I previously sat outside the Echo in LA when The Rolling Stones did a similar secret small-club gig and knew there would be next to no chance I'd get into the McCartney one.
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The Knitting Factory people have taken over management/booking in recent years, and while the vibe is more formal, the variety of acts has increased for the better. I’ve been going there more often…caught Belle and Sebastian, The Church, Amyl, Gogol Bordello, Minus 5, Lemon Twigs, Geordie Greep(Black Midi) and the Dream Syndicate in the past few years, then there’s Johnny Marr, then Marshall Crenshaw, coming up on my list. Mark Mothersbaugh has some sort of non-Devo event that looks interesting, might check that out as well, and maybe this goofball band from Nashville, Snooper.
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Thats why chat gpt/chat ai is not very reliable. It doesn’t give you 100% accurate information, especially in terms of nerdy information like bass tone or bass rigs . While Paul I m sure has many bass amps at home or at his studio , including ashdown, as seen on the video where he teaches how to play Ever present past , he ‘s been using mesa boogie exclusively since 89 on his tours . Brian is the one using ashdown when he switches to bass .
Tonight I played a gig and I used the scrambler/drive on my ampeg scr di with my Hofner going to a mark bass amp as on stage monitor and going out direct to the front of house sound . And yes , the tone is somewhat similar to Paul current tone . Paul current tone is not clean at all. Only way he can cut through is having some sort of boost to add a bit of dirt . Clean Hofner tone will get lost in the mix . I used the scrambler on my ampeg scr as my boost tonight and i think I finally figured it out how to cut through with a Hofner in a loud band setting.
You can see Paul here at around 13:25 , in between songs during soundcheck and he s messing with his Hofner …. You can hear the dirt tone coming out of the bass. That’s not a clean tone
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Hofner pickups are quite hot, especially if you turn off the bridge pickup and run neck-only...
He also had some sort of Hofner branded three-knob pedal which was I believe a custom delay of some sort. Pete Cornish did his pedalboard and might be some sort of overdrive from him on that board. Maybe the BD-1?
Don’t forget “Think For Yourself”, from 1965. The Ric through a Tone Bender.
Here’s the isolated track…
And the regular mix…
