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Paul McCartney's Tone? (Without Spending $70 for Pyramids)

#22
I found some interesting info on McCartney's Bass (and 6-string) guitars here: http://www.thecanteen.com/mccartney1.html

Just an excerpt and you can read the rest fer yerselves:

1968: The 1966 Fender Jazz Bass: Apparently not part of Fender's "gift package" of guitars and amps (they'd included a right-handed Jazz Bass), this sunburst model shows up in Abbey Road studio photos from "White Album" sessions. Its oval-shaped tuners are peculiar to the 1966 model year; Fender basses otherwise featured "clover leaf" tuners. According to Walter Everett in The Beatles as Musicians (Volume 1), this Jazz Bass is played on five tracks: "Yer Blues," "Glass Onion," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Sun King" and "Mean Mr. Mustard." [Everett infers that the right-handed model was also used during the sessions, by Lennon ("Helter Skelter") and Harrison ("Back in the USSR.")] McCartney's kept most of his instruments, and this probably is no exception.
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#23
Ric5 said:
Taxman was George Harrison playing a jazz bass.
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It's Paul. The rhythm track is George on guitar, Paul on bass, and Ringo on Drums (John may have been playing the tambourine). Paul also plays the guitar solo which was overdubbed. I don't think the Beatles got their Fender basses (a Bass VI and a right-handed jazz bass) until 1968 or so.
 
#24
you really can't tell what the bass is without research, in all honesty, but there are certain characteristics of violin basses that are in "girl." and i always thought rubber soul came out before he got the ric.

anyway, it really is a losing battle to chase other people's sound with gear. it's so very much about the way you play that gear might be 5% of it at best. sure a beatle bass sounds nothing like a fodera with rounds but people who play different basses have a way of making them sound similar. they get similar eq's, similar playing style, similar note choices, etc. if you're chasing someone's tone, their gear can sort of help out, but you still have to play it.
 
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#28
JimmyM said:
revolution was the only time i ever saw him with a sponge on his bass. doesn't mean he didn't use one in the studio, though. but that was its first public appearance.
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I wonder what he's playing here. (I didn't even look for this; I just
stumbled upon it)

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Image is from this web page:
http://www.thecanteen.com/mccartney3.html
 
#29
Yeah - I noticed that pix and that "something's" jammed into the strings down by the bridge. Fuzzy - but something!

It's supposed to be a Hofner 500/1 - whatever that is!

McCartney soon would become forever associated with this distinctive model. He used this bass on stage and in the studio through With The Beatles, at which point Hofner gave him a new, updated model. So in '64, he had this first bass refinished in polyester sunburst by Sound City of London and had new pickups and pots installed. After that it served as a backup on the '64 tours but in general took a back seat to its newer brother. It appeared again in late '68, minus its pickguard, for the "Revolution" video from the David Frost show, and it's last seen in footage from Twickenham Studios, where the Beatles were filming "Let It Be." Soon afterward, it was stolen, most likely from a closet at EMI's Abbey Road studio, along with Harrison's Gretsch Tennessean and second Ric 360-12.
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#31
Paul is actually playing his original Hofner" Cavern" bass. No pick ups were moved. This is the original he purchased in 1961. After he got his second Hofner in 1963 he had his first one refinished in this dark sunburgs and gave it new pup surrounds. This is the bass that was stolen soon after the pic above was taken. That thing wedged in there under the strings is a pice of foam he used as a mute. All this confirmed from Macca himself.
 
#32
Bigjohn said:
If you're going for Abbey Road, you better turn up your tube amp for some overdrive.
On Mean Mr. Mustard it sounds like Paul was getting into George's pal Eric's bass player, Jack Bruce.
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I found that Mean Mister Mustard sound with using a couple of guitar-designed stomps. It's not that I can't use stomps with my bass, but I tend to not do so. :ninja:

Piezzo horn(s) ON

BASS (bridge pup - LOW full boost, MID neutral, HI full cut)

BOSS LMB-3 Limiter/Enhancer -> DOD FX66 Flashback Fuzz ->DOD FX56B Super American Metal -> Active Input on amp.

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YEAH - OK! They're kinda fun but I really want to model MY tone right now.

But, yeah - they are fun in practice.
 
#33
Fender basses came with a foam rubber mute either under the strings (called string mutes) or attached to the bridge pup cover. Macca had heard that Carole Kay (originally thought to be James Jamerson) indeed used such a device, OR stuffed a sponge under her strings... So, naturally, Mac had to try it too...

The Revolution video was filmed with live vocals over a pre-recorded rhythm tracks. The Beatles were bound contractually to use only Vox amplifiers for live shows. The only way around that, and therefore to be seen using Fender amps as shown was to NOT play live. It was a video that was made for TV, and not actually a "live" performance of any kind... Hence the Fender amps (also, bits of the vocals from the recording can be heard without anyone "miming" them).

As an avid *former* Fender bass collector, the "lollipop" tuners were used on all Fender basses between 1966 and '68 - and a few in '69. The "package" of guitars and basses The Beatles received in late '67 early '68 included the 2 Jazz basses (1 each right and left handed) and the Bass VI Lennon uses in the Let It Be vid...
 

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