Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I just bought the remastered CD version (my turntable was evicted) and it occurred to me that all the tones are pretty darn good. I've heard that the bass is a Fender Jazz. What about the guitars and amps?

I've seen pictures of McCartney playing his old Epi Casino during the 'Band On The Run' sessions.

No idea on amps, but at least one guitar was a Fender - Esquire I believe, but it might've been a Tele.

More than I could find. McCartney preferred single coil pickups for a long long time. The amp(s) have a nice breakup going.

I believe Denny played either a tele or an esquire with an F hole. I think Paul used a little of his Kay Bass on that as well.

I've seen live footage of Macca on you tube playing band on the run and jet with his RIC, and it sure sounds like the recordings.

I have the 25th Anniversary Special Edition of BOTR which has a bunch of studio photos inside, Paul's playing an upside-down righty Fender Jazz Bass strung lefty.

There are pictures of Denny Laine playing a Fender Tele Thinline w/ two humbuckers. There's also a picture of Paul playing one of those lucite Dan Armstrong guitars.

In one of the photo's Paul's lefty Jazz Bass is present, yes I know he is shown playing an upside down righty in these sessions.

I thought I read somewhere that there was a mix up getting their equipment to the studio (in South Africa?), and they played a lot of borrowed equipment. The again I could be wrong.

Nigeria.

The story I got from Denny Laine about 11 years ago was that the right-handed Fender Jazz was already in the studio when they got there. It was also strung right-handed. Paul simply played it upside-down. When I enquired as to why, Denny replied, "Well, you know Paul being the clever c*nt that he is".

No bitterness there, huh?

In some long lost PM interview, he mentioned that he had learned to play upside down guitar fairly well, since you're more likely find a right handed guitar at someone else's house. He figured most lefties had gone through the same thing and could do it too.

Is it me or does a lot of the bass on that album sound a bit out of tune? Also, very high in the mix.

Also, very high in the mix.

Yeah!

Gotta love it!

Must be one of the reasons BOTR was THE record that got me interested in playing bass... you could actually HEAR the darn bass!

re amps: Elsewhere, someone suggested that the amps are Mesa Boogie. In that era, I think they'd be Mark 1's. Not sure if Mark II's were available then.