Sgt. Pepper's bass

law · Post by **law** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 12:07 pm

What bass did Macca play on Sgt. Pepper's? Doesn't really sound like a Ric.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 12:31 pm

Ric with a pick, flatwounds and the mute engaged on probably the majority of the songs. It sounds quintessential Ric to me. Maybe you are thinking of the Rotosound Ric sound like CS?

rickinroma · Post by **rickinroma** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 8:23 pm

Amen

loverickbass · Post by **loverickbass** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 2:22 am

Sqt. Peppers is one of the top two bass tones of all time IMO. Exit Stage Left being the other.

Cole

iamthebassman · Post by **iamthebassman** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 3:16 am

What a strange thing to say, to me, that's THE Ric bass sound.

levykev · Post by **levykev** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 3:56 am

guys... this is a great segue into something i always wondered: why is it that McCartney's Rick sounds unbelievable on all albums up tp the white album... where it was interchanged with a Fender Jazz bass... then during some of Let It Be and Abbey Road, it sounds fuzzy, muffled, and not that good. you might disagree, but compare "With A Little Help From My Friends" with "I Want You". i mean the perfect tone is just not there. i thought the Hofner was most used during the last two albums, but it seems, with your help and info, that it was the Rick.

please help me understand. is it a production thing? they wanted to get back and record live without any tricks or heavy post production... that would color the bass?

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 10:25 am

A large part of it is different amps used. The earlier stuff with the RIC was Vox amps, most likely solid state, or the hybrid tube/solid state ones. Peppers was direct in a lot of cases. Later, Macca started using tube bass amps, which sound totally different, and are usually not as present in the bass as a solid state amp. It doesn't sound "bad" to my ears...just different. Keep in mind it could also just be how they mixed it too. WIthout having access to the original tracks to compare, it is hard to tell.

teeder · Post by **teeder** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 10:38 am

Different engineers had something to do with it.
I like the Rick tone on Abbey when they got Emerick back. Listen to Hear Comes the Sun. Not the same as Sgt Pepper, but still great Rick tone.

beefandbones · Post by **beefandbones** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 12:23 pm

Well of course Paul picked up the Hofner again because they were 'getting back' at the time, and he seems to have kept using it at least through the spring. I think that it's likely that the Hofner was used for I Want You, because the recording of I Want You commenced very shortly after the Let It Be sessions ended. Paul was still using it in April, too, when they recorded The Ballad of John and Yoko.

Hofners have a very dark, warm, wooly sound that could be described as 'fuzzy' and 'muffled' though I personally would stop before declaring it 'not so good'. Definitely different from the Rick, that's for sure. But... horses for courses.

beefandbones · Post by **beefandbones** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 12:25 pm

And I agree, Kevin, it's interesting what a difference the engineer can make. Once Emerick returned to the desk, we heard 'that sound' again!

fran4001 · Post by **fran4001** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 1:57 pm

I also read that I Want You was the Hofner. But the Rick did sound different in the post-Pepper/MMT stuff.

byu · Post by **byu** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 2:23 pm

There has been speculation about which bass is on I Want You... One of the best arguments I've heard that it's the Ric is that the Hofner wouldn't play in tune up the neck and he's playing high and in tune on that song.

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:03 am

I've always thought it was the RIC for the out of tune Hofner reason too, but I wonder, could it be the Jazz?

johnashfield · Post by **johnashfield** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:06 pm

The jazz always seems more ploppy to me than the ric. I can see where people may think the hofner is on "I want you" and I guess it could be, but it's just so in tune, and it wasn't until the late 80's that McCartney had his Hofner fixed up. At least that is what I thought.

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 4:28 pm

John, that is what I've read also. It was when Elvis C. got him to play it on the song "My Brave Face". It was after that Paul had it off to a luthier to fix the tuning/intonation problems. For some reason 1991 sticks in my mind as the date for the repairs.