SG reissue bass with Macca

[Basvarken]

Grandpa blows away the candidates of X factor.
And there's a Gibson bass on stage...
...and lots of pyrotechnics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_esOVRCDpM&feature=fvst

[gweimer]

Interesting.  I think Brian Ray was using a Guild M-85 a couple years back.  I think that was the bass he used in the Back In The USA shows.

[eb2]

I saw him this last August ( at Fenway Park ) and the back up guys were using an SG bass on everything that McCartney did not play on.  That was quite a bit actually, as he plays guitar and keys a lot.  He opened up the first couple of songs with the Hofner, but from there on it was mostly guitar, and a few tunes at the keys.  Most of the show was a Gibson SG bass, and it sounded great.

[uwe]

Yup, I can confirm that, I saw Macca last week in Berlin - a nice rocky show, not at all Nokia Night of the Proms as you might fear. Paul's Höfner sounded excellent (not his old model, but some new model with binding Höfner no doubt custom-built for him), but whenever that Duff McKagan deadringer in his backing band played the SG RI, you heard more fundamentals, more mids and presence AND A LOT MORE SUSTAIN. The SG RI was just more there and melodic runs in the upper register had definitely more tone to them. That is not knocking the Höfner which does a good job, but it is just more limited in expression than the SG RI.

Incidentally, Macca's voice was in a lot better shape in Berlin than in the above video where he is obviously battling on the piano verses. A memorable moment was when he strummed a bum note in Blackbird - plainly obvious for even the most unmusical - and got mid-song applause for it. See how unfair the world is: Once you've been a Beatle, the public even cheers your mistakes.

[Dave W]

Not surprising at all that the SG RI would have more fundamental, mids, presence and sustain that the Hofner. A closed box hollowbody has limitations that even Paul can't overcome.

[uwe]

I did catch myself a couple of times thinking: Man, if he only played that with his Ric now ... But of course, he plays the Höfner for the same reason he wears that two piece suit, he's projecting a Beatle image. And as the Ric was - to my knowledge - never toured with The Beatles, the Höfner for all its limitations has become his iconic bass. But even he jokes about it as "my lttle German bass".

That said, Paul isn't live an adventurous bass player anymore (probably never was, he did that in the studio). No offense meant, that is not why people pay 200 Euros to see him and he was always overly modest about his bass playing capabilites anyway. When the guitarist was deputizing on the SG RI you actually heard more trademark McCartney runs faithfully lifted from Beatles records than when Sir Plonk worked the Höfner. He leaves inprovisation to his electric guitar playing which has some charming Neil Young coarseness to it and keeps everything from sounding all too nice.

[leftybass]

Couple things:

Last time I saw some live Paul footage(a couple weeks ago) I noticed the "other" bass player had his own bass rig(McCartney using Mesa/Boogie), I seem to remember it being an SWR(could be wrong about that), which could also account for a different bass sound than Paul's.

The Ric DID tour with The Beatles, it was back-up to the Hofner on their final tour. Can be seen in photos from that tour, leaning against the side of the drum riser, laying on the floor behind the bass rig, or as seen here, backstage.

[Basvarken]

In the BBC performance he (Brian) uses Ashdown.

[gearHed289]

I saw the SG RI on a concert broadcast on VH1 Classic a weekend or two ago. When I saw that lineup a few years back Brian was playing the M-85, which sounded noticably better than the Hofner. Miss the Ric...

[uwe]

Oh my, that Ric does have an authority the Höfner never even approaches. Not everything from Germany is automatically better.  

In Berlin, Macca played Mesa Boogie

http://www.all-in.de/bilder_videos/videoline/topthema/art6545,683200

and the blond guy Ashdown. Whether any of the amp sound got through the PA is an open question though, neither of the two bass rigs seemed miked and neither of them sounded miked either. In addition to the Höfner's inherent sound characteristics Paul probably also still plays flats AND dampens the strings with his right hand continuously when picking - that in itself should account for the differences in assertiveness between the Höfner and the SG RI without the amps coming much into play. Mesa Boogie amps are known for lots of things, but not for being inaudible.

[leftybass]

Paul probably also still plays flats AND dampens the strings with his right hand

I'm sorry, which hand?

[exiledarchangel]

Not everything from Germany is automatically better.  

I'll try to remember that!

[uwe]

Ouch, caught me there with that right hand bit ... I bow my head in shame!

[eb2]

I was too far away to see everything on stage, but I did see the Mesa amps on the big screen. That was kind of like the time I saw Page and Plant, as you got used to watching the screen to see it all.  But I enjoyed his guitar work and liked the Duff-alike playing bass.  I actually liked the other guitar player a lot.  He is kind of a Crispin Glover look alike, with some 90s rock hair.  He was partial to ES body guitars, and they all sounded great.  I think for an open air gig, set up in front of the green monster, it sounded fantastic.  Then when I did some quick calculating of his age, how long he sang, what he physically played, and compared that to what Frank Sinatra was doing at the same age, it was really impressive.

[copacetic]

Aw c'mon the Hofner (always) sounds great. I've seen recent shows and with the current high standard of bass amps/systems you can really hear the particular timbre of the Hofner. He still uses it 9 times out of 10 in the studio as well and you can easily tell. Regarding his live adventurousness I agree, but I did see a sound check several years ago and I was right there and he was jammin' (just him) with his old Hofner(whic is surprising how it has held up) doing stuff that was wild. Tha was a true delight to see and hear. Also you guys know you can't compare Ricks, Gibsons, Fenders, Harmony's etc. They each have there own little neat compartments.