I am trying to narrow down what string gets the closest to Mccartney's actual Rickenbacker tone. I use TI JF334 flats on my Rick 4003s with push pull vintage pot and can get quite close to his tone but I find there is so much confusion on what strings he actual used on his ric. Is there a better string then TI JF344 for McCartney tone and what did he actual use on the Rickenbacker? Thanks for the help!
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What flat wound gets the closest to Mccartneys Rickenbacker tone?
- Thread starter Will_420
- Start date
Hmmm. Don't know, but you're right, his Rickenbacker tone is unlike anyone else's on the planet. Whatever he's doing / using is pretty unique. Someone here surely knows the gory details.
Not flats but Rotosound Trubass and a pick will get you very close, probably not the answer you were after but that is what my experience and my ears tells me
No direct experience with them myself, but this thread may be of value to you:
New Optima RB Flats (old Maxima reproductions)
McCartney himself wouldn't be much help - his answer when asked what kind of strings he used (from interview circa mid to late '90's): "I don't know, they come in a little bag."
A better place to start might be finding out what stock strings were on Rick basses when they left the factory in the mid '60's.
I'd also venture a lot of what we're hearing on the records is not so much due to the strings, but the signal chain between the bass and the tape machine. There's some info on that in the Recording the Beatles coffee table book, if you have access to that.
A better place to start might be finding out what stock strings were on Rick basses when they left the factory in the mid '60's.
I'd also venture a lot of what we're hearing on the records is not so much due to the strings, but the signal chain between the bass and the tape machine. There's some info on that in the Recording the Beatles coffee table book, if you have access to that.
I could never get rounds to have his tone at all haha way to bright, but I never used roto trubass
McCartney was known to do a lot of experimenting with recording techniques and using equipment that no one else had.
I dare say that accounts for his range of sounds. I have to also think about how he had to send his Ric back to the factory because the electrics and his pickup magnets were shot. Who knows what he did to the thing?
I dare say that accounts for his range of sounds. I have to also think about how he had to send his Ric back to the factory because the electrics and his pickup magnets were shot. Who knows what he did to the thing?
I believe that he used Pyramid strings on the Ric and he was notorious for running multiple microphones and DI's them mix them at the board. This is just what I remembered from some reading and may be wrong but it gives you a place to start your research.
Not that I have ever seen but I would love to power her up in a good cab!!
Well, a couple of things....
- Sir Paul's 4001 Rick would have come from the factory with German Maxima flatwounds on it, which is what made for that signature Rickenbacker sound. So, unless he just absolutely hated them - or the recording engineer did - they probably stayed on that bass for quite awhile, considering how long-lived flatwounds are. These days, the closest you can get to the original strings is a set of Optima RB (Rickenbacker Bass) flats. Optima owns the remains of Maxima, and a few years ago decided to clone the original factory strings. Down to the 45-57-77-100 gauges... I have a set on my '01 Rick 4003; they're... just what I want to hear from that bass. I'm not trying to sound like Sir Paul (as if...
); I just want that original Rick tone...
- As others have said, there is a whole bunch of other things that contributed to all the Beatles' sound. There are several mind-numbingly detailed videos that will give you a taste of just how complicated their sound was by the time Sir Paul picked up that Rick. Equipment that you couldn't even begin to buy...
So, bottom line? Realistically, there's simply no way to duplicate his sound - today. The best you can hope for? Put a set of Optima RB's on your Rick; cut the capacitor into the bridge pickup; and be happy with "sort of in the ballpark"....
- Sir Paul's 4001 Rick would have come from the factory with German Maxima flatwounds on it, which is what made for that signature Rickenbacker sound. So, unless he just absolutely hated them - or the recording engineer did - they probably stayed on that bass for quite awhile, considering how long-lived flatwounds are. These days, the closest you can get to the original strings is a set of Optima RB (Rickenbacker Bass) flats. Optima owns the remains of Maxima, and a few years ago decided to clone the original factory strings. Down to the 45-57-77-100 gauges... I have a set on my '01 Rick 4003; they're... just what I want to hear from that bass. I'm not trying to sound like Sir Paul (as if...
); I just want that original Rick tone...- As others have said, there is a whole bunch of other things that contributed to all the Beatles' sound. There are several mind-numbingly detailed videos that will give you a taste of just how complicated their sound was by the time Sir Paul picked up that Rick. Equipment that you couldn't even begin to buy...
So, bottom line? Realistically, there's simply no way to duplicate his sound - today. The best you can hope for? Put a set of Optima RB's on your Rick; cut the capacitor into the bridge pickup; and be happy with "sort of in the ballpark"....
Sir Macca is why I started to play bass in 1976. I studied and played his bass lines all the way from Love Me Do forward to the most recent. I have a set on one of my basses. I concur.
Rotosound Tru-Bass on, I believe, both Hofners in turn, used during some of the Abbey Road sessions, the roof top, a few of what became to be known as the Let It Be sessions, among others. He didn't stay with them too long. I don't know of any occasion of him using them after the Beatles.
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