'America' - bass cover video

[walker]

By the way - is that also the Hayman 2020 Steve's using in the 'America' studio video? I know the vid is just them lip-synching - not sure if Howe is showing the actually guitar he recorded with.

[walker]

By complex study, I mean learning the correct guitar and bass parts as they were performed on the studio albums.

Just don't quote me on that drop-D maneuver!

[bartyclue]

Good news! The video has been unblocked (for now!) Apparently the dispute process worked, and in good time.

Mark. Oustanding performance. I too have always thought this was one of Chris's exemplary bass demonstrations and you have nailed it. I also love your tone. How are you achieving that? Amp? pedals? Please reveal. If someone asked me why I love rics so much, I'd play this video and say listen... classic ric sound. I also love the colour of your bass. Is that original? It looks butterscotch to me. I have a bass to be refinished and I was thinking of doing a Les paul gold top but wasnt sure how it would look. If i can get it to look like yours I'd be happy. Again I really enjoyed that. Thanks for taking the trouble to get it working. I am really glad I saw this.

[walker]

Thanks, Brian! Cool to meet yet another fan of the classic 4001 tone. The finish on the bass is original Mapleglo and has yellowed/browned quite a bit since 1968. I bumped the contrast quite a bit in the video, so it's not actually at the Butterscotch phase yet, but pretty close.

I run the bass through an SWR head & ADA-MB1 preamp into a 4x12 Hiwatt cab. The speakers are 85 watt Celestions custom reconed by a brilliant speaker guy in Seattle at 'Around The Sound.' He made the coils deeper and changed the outer ring from paper to canvas to better accommodate bass frequencies. I can keep up with some pretty loud guitar stacks and drums at live rehearsals with that monster. The bass doesn't sound BAD through a 4x10 or 8x10, and I used to have a really nice old Sunn 2x15 that I liked for recording, but the 4x12 really brings out the sweet spot best to my ear.

No FX pedals on this song - just straight from the bass to the amp.

[just_bassics]

By the way - is that also the Hayman 2020 Steve's using in the 'America' studio video? I know the vid is just them lip-synching - not sure if Howe is showing the actually guitar he recorded with.

That is the 2020 in the video and, according to Steve's own notes in his book, was also used on the record.

[walker]

Interesting looking guitar. Body-wise, it sort of resembles a cross between a 330 and a larger hollow-body Gretsch.

[ricmic]

Bro, I gotta agree with Brian. That is indeed one sweet sounding bass. The fact that you're straight cording it makes it all the sweeter. Great video Mark, love your chops. Thanks again. Mark

[walker]

Thanks, Mark. The '68 is definitely my bass of choice for most recordings.

[Blackstar]

The bass doesn't sound BAD through a 4x10 or 8x10, and I used to have a really nice old Sunn 2x15 that I liked for recording, but the 4x12 really brings out the sweet spot best to my ear.

Awesome tone in your video! I have to agree on using 4x12. I run my Ricks ('76 4001, ''89 4003 Blackstar, '99 4001V63) through a early '70s Sunn Coliseum and early '70s Peavey 4x12 (2 ohms!) and they sound great! My P-bass also sounds great (with Rotosounds) when I'm feeling Entwistlian - to coin a word.

[walker]

Thanks, Ron - cool basses in your arsenal. It would be cool to hear that rig of yours. Squire used a Sunn Coliseum for awhile, didn't he? That's interesting about the ohmage of that 4x12. (coining my own word with "ohmage." I was going to say "ohmnipotent," but decided that I should remain secular while on a public forum) How does a 2-ohm cabinet perform in relation to the head pushing it in comparison to 4, 8, or 16? Not sure how my Hiwatt is wired - I've just assumed that it's an 8. I think that's what the speakers are rated at.

[Blackstar]

Yes, both Squire and Entwistle used Sunn Coliseums at one time or another - made it a somewhat obvious choice, although it took a few months to wait for a good one to pop up on the 'bay. I never did understand that 'ohmage' (good term Mark) thing, but the Sunn head can handle it (wonder why and for what head Peavey made a 2 ohm cab?). I've never used another cabinet, so I can't say how the head would perform in an alternate configuration - keeping an eye out for the elusive Sunn 6x12! - but as it is I can tell you it is clean and LOUD! I like how the 12s sound in comparison to 15s - punchy but with enough bottom end - just perfect for my Ricks.

[walker]

Yeah - I'm with you there. 12's definitely do the Rick tone justice, alright.

Another aspect of 'America' - I had to do a lot of extra prep-work to the original Yes recording because the pitch varies quite a bit in some sections. I tuned my bass to the recordings vs a digital tuner for this project, and I'd be playing along, everything sounding fine, then all of a sudden I was completely out of tune with Yes. I was going nuts for awhile wondering what was wrong with my bass until I realized that the tuning issue was with the recording. I'm guessing that the pitch may vary the way it does due to the way the song was recorded - in sections at a time, like most of the music on 'Close To The Edge.' It might have been Steve Howe that spoke of it in a Yes documentary I saw - how they made that album while they were touring, and would have to develop and capture their new music while on the road and make numerous trips back & forth to the studio. In those days, the tape machines were temperamental and didn't always run at the same speed on any given day. So when Eddie O edited 'America' together from the many different takes he had accumulated, what resulted was a composite of takes that were recorded on different days, at slightly different speeds. This same characteristic of mechanical inconsistency affecting pitch was also mentioned in a documentary about the making of Miles Davis' 'Kind Of Blue' album.

So I had to go in and digitally retune the sections of 'America' where it didn't match the pitch of my bass just to get it all to sound right together! fun fun...

[walker]

An 'America' related collaboration with my friend Clint of The Reply - he also wrote a song called America, (no relation to the Simon & Garfunkel song) and I added the basslines to his mix. I discovered that part of Chris Squire's bassline from Yes' version of 'America' actually fit over Clint's music, ironically, so I played a paraphrase of that.

The Reply - 'America'

[johnallg]

Hey Mark, what are the specs on the pickups on that '68? How long are the toaster magnets, and what is the ohm reading of that one and the HS?

[walker]

The toaster has the recessed magnets, and last I remember checking, both pickups were pretty close to 7.5k.