One of the greatest bass players of all time was also in one of the greatest bands of all time: The Beatles. Yes, Paul McCartney IS one of the best bass players, something we didn’t realize until playing the game Beatles RockBand. Choosing the bass option allows you to really concentrate on some of the killer bass lines McCartney came up with. He was really that backbone of the Beatles in that regards, and when you listen carefully, you can really feel the warmth and roundness of his amazing bass tone. So lets take a look at Paul’s bass tone and how he got it.
Paul’s Bass: an early 60s’ Hofner 500/1
This bass is the bass associated with Paul McCartney. In fact, when I look at it, I can’t think of anyone else. He used this bass throughout the Beatles famous years, from being on the Ed Sullivan Show, to their infamous rooftop concert on the Apple Building. The Hofner is the biggest piece of the puzzle in Paul’s tone, and really fills that low end. A cool thing about the Hofner is that it is a rather light bass, and pretty compact as well making it a dream to gig with.
Paul’s Amp: Vox Amplifiers
In the early days, he would plug into a Vox AC30, though in late 1962, he switched over to a Vox T-60. Although the T-60 was just not powerful enough to overcome the screams from the growing audiences. So at that point, Paul switched to an AC30 Head with a big bass cabinet sporting Celestion speakers. Soon Paul adopted the AC100 Head to really fill the stage with his bass tone.
So in the end, if you want his bass tone, using a Hofner 500/1, coupled with Vox amplifiers and Celestion speakers will definitely get you there. But it’s Paul McCartney’s bass playing that really attributed to a lot of the sound, so do learn some of his bass lines to get his playing style down, which ultimately leads to getting his sound as well.
If you are familiar with univibe clones, you know the Megavibe. Many argue that the Megavibe gets the absolute closest to Hendrix’s Machine Gun, at least on the chorus setting. Randy Hansen (also known as the Hendrix Clone) uses a Megavibe, and many say that his tone is closest to Jimi’s. The only downside of this pedal is that they are extremely hard to obtain. You may be only able to find a used one on Ebay at inflated prices, as KR Musical seems to have been out of the scene for a little while now.
Dave Fox is known for building quality boutique vintage-esqe effects. His Aquavibe is no different, producing that vintage univibe tone, while also adding more flexibility to create different vibe tones such as the ability to change the position of the sweep. The Aquavibe has also been known to have the best vibrato out of all the univibe clones out there. Only downside is that there is about a 1 year waiting list.
Built by the late Bob Sweet, the Mojo and Ultravibe have been around for awhile, and have been a benchmark for great univibe tones. These vibes are right up there with the aqua and mega vibe.
Around the forums, many have been raving about the MJM 60s Vibe. Over at MJM, the 60s Vibe has been modeled after an original univibe. Some really great tones coming from this pedal. Best part is, the MJM 60s Vibe is readily available with no waiting list.
Word around the street is that the original Deja Vibe (gold unit) has some pretty authentic univibe tones. Some have argued that this pedal is closest to the original.