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The vintage sound
- Thread starter CJFrost
- Start date
passive pickups, flatwound strings, cut the treble on the amp a little and turn the horn off if you have one. thats the main stuff i think.
There is no "best rig". They all used different equipment. geckoman1220 has the right idea; It starts in your hands and bass.
Well, aside from Entwhistle, who used a much more aggressive sound than most at the time, just get a shortscale hollowbody, string it with flats, play with a pick, and voila, you can get a cool retro 60's British tone easily. Hofner, Vox, Dano are a few basses that immediately lend themselves to that sound.
Mr. Foxen
Commercial User
Easy way.: Not even bother with a rig, being audible as a bass player came later on. Classic rigs were guitar rigs by current standards, so a guitar combo.
If you want to emulate the Beatles get a Hofner Violin bass. They really do have a sound that is uniquely their own. I've owned two in my time. One was stolen in the Sixties. The other I still own but it is barely playable. Many of the joints are coming apart.
slobake
resident ... something
If you want a variety of sounds try a multi pedal. I have a Zoom B3 that does a pretty good job of emulating different amps and pedals.
Very few bands ever sounded the same live as they did recorded. Very few live recordings ever sounded the same as the concerts.
You can do better today. You can take advantage of what's available today and make it your own. Get with the style and don't worry too much about rig. A modern rig is the "best gear" for all times.
You can do better today. You can take advantage of what's available today and make it your own. Get with the style and don't worry too much about rig. A modern rig is the "best gear" for all times.
Both of the tones you listed are very different. My idea of vintage tone is a p bass with flats into an acoustic 360/370 or ampeg svt or sunn 200s tube head.
Jim Carr
Dr. Jim
- Jan 21, 2006
- 16,223
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- Disclosures
- fEARful Kool-Aid dispensing liberal academic card-carrying union member Musicians Local 72-147
+1
A good modern amp easily can nail most of the studio sounds of any era. If you need tube drive, there are plenty of hybrid amps and emulation pedals that do it well.
Honestly, it is more about what kinds of lines you play, your articulation, the mode of attack (where on the string, fingers or pick), and strings/setup, and not so much about the gear.
Hofners are distinct, but you can get very very close with a simple Fender Jazz. All IMHO.
+1
A good modern amp easily can nail most of the studio sounds of any era. If you need tube drive, there are plenty of hybrid amps and emulation pedals that do it well.
Honestly, it is more about what kinds of lines you play, your articulation, the mode of attack (where on the string, fingers or pick), and strings/setup, and not so much about the gear.
Hofners are distinct, but you can get very very close with a simple Fender Jazz. All IMHO.
[ WithOUT the feedback issues]
Mr. Foxen
Commercial User
Been thinking about it. figured, the secret of vintage tone is grab an amp because there aren't many choices, use it even though you don't really like the sound, making the best of what you have. Secret of the classics.
Jim Carr
Dr. Jim
- Jan 21, 2006
- 16,223
- 7,613
- 76
- Disclosures
- fEARful Kool-Aid dispensing liberal academic card-carrying union member Musicians Local 72-147
Oh---want to add that I have used or owned almost all the big and small [edit: North] American and British bass amps of the 60's and early 70's (Fender, Ampeg, Vox, Sunn, Kustom, Standel, Traynor, Epiphone). With a few exceptions from '68-'73 (SVT, 2000s, ACC 360/310), they were mostly ALL quite limited for live performance in medium to large crowded bars, IMHO. Any typical 210 Vox, Fender vibroluxe, super reverb, twin, or 412 Marshall would bury them. With two guitars, drums, keys, and a vocals only PA—forget it.
Mr. Foxen
Commercial User
Fairly sure the limiting factor was the cabs that went with them. With modern cabs, I'm so happy with vintage valve amps.
All you need for vintage sounds is to turn off the tweeter. That's about all the different bassists of the 60's had in common...not much in the way of highs past 4 or 5khz. Many of them had very trashy rigs as well, and that contributed to the sounds they got. But no matter what they used, they all sounded like themselves. Why? Because it's all about you, baby! I have my favorite gear, but no matter what I use, I make it sound like what I like as close as I can to my favorite gear. You will, too. Get an amp and bass, maybe an overdrive pedal to get some of the cool distorted tones of the 60's, then forget about it and get to work on playing them!
godofthunder59
Life is short, buy the bass.
- Feb 19, 2006
- 9,056
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- Endorsing Cataldo Basses, Whirlwind products, Thunderbucker pickups
A someone stated the examples you list are very different. I am both a big Paul and J.A.E fan. Paul got his sound from a Hofner 500/1 and Rickenbacker 4001 both strung with flats. He did on occasion use a '66 Jazz bass during the White Album. Sometimes miced, sometime direct to the board pushed into the red, the song Rain is a good example of this. Entwistles sound has many stages. Live at Leeds is his "Frankenstien" through Hiwatts, later in his career Thunderbirds/Hiwatts later still Thunderbirds and Fenderbirds through Sunn, then came Alembic basses, etc., etc., etc. Both John and Paul used pick and fingers. John famously developed his "typewritwer" style off playing.
