Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Huh. The bass on Octopus's Garden sounds like the Hofner to me!

beefandbones wrote:Huh. The bass on Octopus's Garden sounds like the Hofner to me!

Excellent observation! Sounds like the black plastic tape wounds on ye 'ol Hofner, too. Out-of-tune and distorted. LOL! If so, it's very cool to know that McCartney and Co. were actively thinking of WHAT bass to use on each song and seeking a certain sound. (Sea bottom mud + comic relief funky Ringo + murky water = muddy distorted old Hofner bass? )

nukebass wrote:It sounds a lot like the chunky jazz bass, or what has been considered to be the jazz bass, on the White Album. Did McCartney play bass on You Never Give Me Your Money? I'm pretty sure Harrison played the bass part on Carry That Weight, so it would be possible he played the Fender VI on it. It's hard to say with Abbey Road. A lot of the bass parts on that album sound over driven and played with a heavy pick attack making it hard to say for certain what instrument was played on what song.

The better playing and sounding bass is all a matter of opinion. No matter what bass McCartney plays, he will always sound better than me

It's a different bass sound than the white album bass parts. As a current owner of a couple of mid-late 60's jazz basses strung w/ flat wounds, it really is a different bass sound. Golden Slumbers/Carry that Weight sound like Harrison on the Jazz. Again, a different bass sound than You Never Give Me Your Money.

Octupus's Garden sound like a Rick to me. Listening to the Let It Be tracks that we know are Hofner, I want You She's So Heavy has the same sound and was actually recorded right after the roof top concert. Octupus's Garden sounds similar to Something which is a different bass sound than the LIB tracks.

Wow, I just have to say that the bass Paul played on "Mr. Kite" is AMAZING. Talk about walking bass lines...wow, just wow.

I have to say, Something really sounds like the Hofner to me. I wasn't sure until the very last note. The 'bwow' and pitch warble sounds like an effect of the short scale.

And actually, listening to all these isolated bass tracks, I'm really surprised at how driven/distorted and attack-y they are.

beefandbones wrote:I have to say, Something really sounds like the Hofner to me. I wasn't sure until the very last note. The 'bwow' and pitch warble sounds like an effect of the short scale.

And actually, listening to all these isolated bass tracks, I'm really surprised at how driven/distorted and attack-y they are.

Could silly Paul have been playing through a guitar amp for any of them? I'm guessing he must have overdriven a Fender Showman for "Revolution"...

beefandbones wrote:I have to say, Something really sounds like the Hofner to me. I wasn't sure until the very last note. The 'bwow' and pitch warble sounds like an effect of the short scale.

And actually, listening to all these isolated bass tracks, I'm really surprised at how driven/distorted and attack-y they are.

Some of the distortion may be an effect of the isolation. Some of them seem to be at a slightly different speed, too. I like my TASCAM bass trainer module because I can adjust the speed or pitch to match my bass. It makes figuring out notes easier, except for "I Want You (She's So Heavy)." I can't figure out those fast notes at all!!

Yesterday I was sure the bass on Something was the Hofner, and I thought I had good reasons for thinking so, but today the slides on the intro sound throaty like the Rick. Man, talking about tone coming from the fingers of the player...

beefandbones wrote:Yesterday I was sure the bass on Something was the Hofner, and I thought I had good reasons for thinking so, but today the slides on the intro sound throaty like the Rick. Man, talking about tone coming from the fingers of the player...

What I think I have relearned after listening to all the isolated bass tracks here is:
1) It's the bass player's feel and the note selection FIRST, THEN the equipment. ANY decent bass would have done the job.
2) There are way too many variables with these isolated bass tracks to come to any sure conclusion on the equipment, therefore, don't sweat bass equipment in the studio. If one can't distinguish between an old Hofner bass with flats from an old RIC 4001 with flats then just where are we? LOL! You have the amp, the mic, the board, the final source/mix, the isolation process, the conversion to MP3, your listening PC audio system, your own ears and brain hearing, etc. You'd think we could at least ball-park it somehow, but I guess not.

scottpro1969 wrote:Davy, I've had the same reaction....some parts I was over-playing while other parts I was just playing root notes when he was playing more complicated lines. This really is an education for me. I still can't believe how talented McCartney is....to join the band as a guitar player and seemingly switch to bass like it was nothing, not to mention playing those bass lines while singing lead!! Simply amazing.

yes, true, but one more thing... Not only playing those great line, but creating them!!!

Thanks for posting these Rick,
Can you post the bass for Get Back please.

To all the people waiting, I am aware of your requests, and will be adhearing to them shortly.

On a seperate note. Although some of these bass tracks are crystal clear, many of them are not. People need to remember that these are obviosly not EMI/APPLE masters. These are ROCKBAND seperations. To me these files are more explanatory of the basslines themselves, not the equipment used. That's why these "what Paul played on what" discussions can get tedious at times. The veterans of this board have seen this a million times.

The Beatles were constantly changing their equipment and methods of recording. They never seemed satisfied with one sound. This is a wonderful thing musically, but it creates confusion when trying to figure out equipment. Sometimes, the Hofner can sound similar to the RIC and vice-versa. The Jazz and the Rick can get confused as well. With even a semi-versatile bass and a semi-versatile amp, you can make one bass/guitar sound like MANY others. Especially today when you can factor pedals, processors, modeling amps and mixing boards, the options are limitless. Of course this has just been my experience.

P.S. Listening to this track further, I'm not sure there was ever fuzz bass on "Think For Yourself"

congerz83 wrote: P.S. Listening to this track further, I'm not sure there was ever fuzz bass on "Think For Yourself"

Interesting. What was fuzzed then, guitar?

egosheep wrote:

congerz83 wrote: P.S. Listening to this track further, I'm not sure there was ever fuzz bass on "Think For Yourself"

Interesting. What was fuzzed then, guitar?

That's what it seems like to me. Listen to the remastered track (not the isolation) with headphones on. You will hear a very clean tone on one side of the mix, while guitar on other side (devoid of bass BTW) has all the fuzz.