What bass does Macca play on 'Drive My Car'

[Beedster]

Just got my grubby little mits on Tony Bacon's Macca book - which is great - and am loving some of Macca's gooves. Anyone know what he played on 'Drive My Car', and for that matter any of the other tracks on Rubber Soul, which is currently playing way too loud into the 'phones whilst I write this post drinking a beer, TFMB having gone out for the evening.....

C

[Ray]

Found this on the interweb:

[quote]"DRIVE MY CAR"

When recorded where both instruments are clearly heard, the sound of a good rock guitar line with the bass following it an octave beneath it is pretty exciting. The guitar/bass parts in "Drive My Car" are a perfect example of this, and the lins are thanks to George Harrison who perservered against Paul's will for once in playing it this way. Perhaps he might have considered perservering more because it really works.

The question that intrigues bass players everywhere is whether or not Paul switched to his new Rickenbacker for this song. Listening closely to the bass part indicates that he most likely did. It is punchy and carries that certain trebly edge that is inherant in Rickenbacker basses.

Note from Scott Jennings, Rickenbacker historian, on this subject:

The 1964 Rickenbacker model 4001S bass (the first lefty bass they had built) was built specifically to be shown to Paul. Its serial number and factory records indicate that it was completed in January 1964. It was offered to him during the week of their first Sullivan show appearance by F.C. Hall, then the owner of Rickenbacker, but he declined to buy it at the time (this was the same day that George got his '63 360/12, and John his '63 325). According to F.C. Hall, and his son John Hall, the current CEO of Rickenbacker International, Paul was given the bass during a visit to their factory the week of the Beatles August 29, 1965 appearance at the Hollywood Bowl. There are photos of Paul using this bass during the Rubber Soul sessions in October in spite of all historical claims that it wasn't used until the "Paperback Writer" session the following April.

The historical claims that the bass was not used until "Paperback Writer" were made by Geoff Emerick. But while Emerick was employed at EMI during the "Rubber Soul" sessions, he was not their engineer until 1966.[/quote]

[stevie]

Sounds like the Hofner to me. You can only really tell on the first few notes. Elsewhere, the bass is doubled with guitar. I could be wrong, of course.

[Musky]

[quote name='stevie' post='666678' date='Nov 26 2009, 08:12 PM']Sounds like the Hofner to me. You can only really tell on the first few notes. Elsewhere, the bass is doubled with guitar. I could be wrong, of course.[/quote]

Got to admit it sounds like the Hofner to me as well.

[attachment=37160:10_Drive...ereo_mix.mp3]

Edit: Attachment deleted 12/3/11 to save some disk space!

Edited March 12, 2011 by Musky

[ahpook]

i'd always assumed it was the hofner, but i'm ready to be corrected.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='Musky' post='667266' date='Nov 27 2009, 12:24 PM']Got to admit it sounds like the Hofner to me as well.

[attachment=37160:10_Drive...ereo_mix.mp3][/quote]

That's definitely the Hofner - I was playing my 1964 violin bass on stage just last night and that's exactly how it sounds.

BUT.

That's a live recording you've got there. If you listen closely to the album version (sorry - I meant the L.P. version ) that's really not the same sound, there's noticeably more sustain, and Macca makes less use than normal of his trademark high-up-the-neck tone. Almost as if he'd got hold of a long-scale bass with a wider "spread" of tone.

I reckon he recorded [i]Drive My Car [/i](and most of the Rubber Soul songs) using his new Ricky, but the marketing people (all of 'em called Brian Epstein) didn't want that known just yet.