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Post subject: While my guitar gently weeps bass tone
Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 6:53 am
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I know they (I presume it was Paul who played the bass on 'while my guitar gently weeps') used a Jazz Bass on that track, but I am amazed by how it sounds.
I still haven't found how to get that tone, is there anybody out there who can help me?


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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 6:47 am
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There are two bass parts on that track. One is weighted toward the right channel and one is left channel only. Each plays very different parts.

I think the left channel is possibly the Hofner with all of the highs rolled off and the bass cranked through a Bassman. I say it is the Hof because of the acoustic quality of the tone. On second thought it might even be an upright acoustic.

The bass part that is heavily weighted to the right channel is predominant. It is almost certainly a single coil bass like a Hagstrom or Jazz set up with the aforementioned nylon wrapped strings and played with a pick. The bass and treble sound to me to both be rolled off on the right channel bass. However the tone was probably controlled by George Martin. Good call on the nylons. I agree. Possibly they were Rotosound nylons. Just guessing on the Roto part since they were readily available then in the UK, but that is definitely a good call on the nylons.


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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 10:14 am
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It's also possible that he was using his rick 4001. They have stereo output where you can capture each pickup separately. It's possible the neck was put left and the bridge was put right in the mix, and that they were engineered differently.


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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 10:22 am
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anubis16 wrote:
It's also possible that he was using his rick 4001. They have stereo output where you can capture each pickup separately. It's possible the neck was put left and the bridge was put right in the mix, and that they were engineered differently.


Just to add, because of the nature of ricks, they are VERY sensitive to what strings you use. With flats, the neck pickup sounds very dark and uprightish, and the bridge pickup sounds nylony and compressed. I'm going with his rick with flats and stereo output.


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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 4:53 pm
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I am not hearing the same part doubled. I'm hearing two different parts.


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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 2:52 pm
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As someone who makes a living playing bass in a Beatles tribute band I can tell you I've done TONS of research on this subject, and I am sure its the Fender Jazz Bass on that track. With stock Fender flats. Black nylons were mentioned earlier; he DID use these(Rotosound Tru Bass) but only on his 2nd Hofner and only during the "Let It Be" sessions(and not "Abbey Road" as noted on the Rotosound site). The (lefty) Jazz is on a few other tracks on The White Album and both Jazzes(lefty and righty) are on several tracks on Abbey Road.


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Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 7:33 am
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fjbass wrote:
Hey brotherdave; I used nylons back in 1969-1971 on a Gibson EBO. I sold the EBO and never used nylons again. I don't remember the brand I had on that EBO. Of current manufacture, what is a good nylon for a 4 string Am. Std. Jazz. I play a lot of Mountain, Led Zeppelin, Etc. Some Country, and Blues. PS. Thanks for the info on the Alder wood pieces in the A.S. Jazz. You were right on. I asked Fender, 3-4 pieces.


Odd but I was using nylons then too. I was using Gibson Nylons then, lots of them.

I have not used any nylon wrapped strings in a few years now, but the GHS 3060 set was very good. The GHS is smaller gauge than the Rotos and may fit without any filing on the nut, but no guarantee about that! Nylon wrapped strings are usually a very large gauge string and for sure are going to entail a completely different setup. For that reason if you want to use them I'd take one bass and dedicate that one to nylons.

I have finally learned it is best to find a set of strings that works well on a bass and stick to that set instead of trying a different type at every string change. I'm basically using just three sets now.

Nylons are not very versatile, they do one thing which is sound more like an upright acoustic bass than any other string. They also FEEL fatter, have very low finger noise. Probably not a good choice for Mountain and Zeppelin, but for old school ballads or playing electric jazz with a pianist they would be really lush. They work best on a fretless. Oh sure you can use them on a fretted bass fine, but the frets will chew up the nylon wrap in fairly short order. I was changing them on my fretted bass a lot, like every 2 or 3 weeks and it just got to where it was more trouble than it was worth so I went to TI Jazz Flats. I've never been a fretless player, but if I wanted to use nylons again I'd buy something fretless to use them on and learn how to play it.


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Post subject: Re:
Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 8:42 pm
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Lefty Bass wrote:
As someone who makes a living playing bass in a Beatles tribute band I can tell you I've done TONS of research on this subject, and I am sure its the Fender Jazz Bass on that track. With stock Fender flats. Black nylons were mentioned earlier; he DID use these(Rotosound Tru Bass) but only on his 2nd Hofner and only during the "Let It Be" sessions(and not "Abbey Road" as noted on the Rotosound site). The (lefty) Jazz is on a few other tracks on The White Album and both Jazzes(lefty and righty) are on several tracks on Abbey Road.


Sir thanks for this historic update!


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