Which Bass Guitar?

[ernstinen]

Hey Guys,Here's a question for you bass players:I heard an oldie on the radio the other day, and was knocked out by the bass guitar sound.The song was "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" by BTO. The bass has such a nice attack, and is SO full and rich, with a huge bottom end.I have no idea which bass guitar is being played on this record. Any guesses?Thanks in advance,Ern

[ernstinen]

O.K. --- here's some guesses:1. Gibson solid body2. Gretsch solid body3. Gibson semi-hollow body4. Gretsch semi-hollow body5. AlembicIt ain't a Fender, that's for sure! Ern

[devin]

My guess is it was a late 60's Rickenbacker model 4000 in black.But that's just a guess.Randy Bachman has a cool weekly radio show called "Vinyl Tap"...I've e-mailed him to see if he can remember (and also to see if he'll respond to little old me! I've been dying to send him an e-mail, but I couldn't think of any cool way to try it...thanks Ern! Randy still records in his studio on the West coast of Canada). But I'm 95% certain Fred Turner was playing a Rick at the time...at least for the live stuff.

[devin]

P.S. Here's a link to Randy's show...good timing Ern...this week was "Guitarology", where he played a bunch of equipment so we could hear the difference.http://www.randysvinyltap.com/main.phpCheers!

[mazz]

Ern, could it be partially due to that old 15ips head bump? Only us analog guys will know what that is. It certainly was part of the "sound" of tape!Just a thought,Mazz

[ernstinen]

Jun 22, 2008, 4:59pm, devin wrote:P.S. Here's a link to Randy's show...good timing Ern...this week was "Guitarology", where he played a bunch of equipment so we could hear the difference.http://www.randysvinyltap.com/main.phpCheers!Hey Devin,Couldn't get it to link up for some reason!Mazz,Yea, but it's definitely some bass guitar sound that "gets it!"I still think it's an expensive solid body Gibson or something like that that no one uses anymore ---Ern

[devin]

Whoa...talk about amazing response time...I asked the question last night, and I received an answer a few hours later! Here's the word from the Bachman family (my notes after that):Randy says a Fender 5-string bass but since he wasn't the bass player...... could be anything, really.Denise McCann Bachman for Randy’s Vinyl Tap CBC Radio OneSaturdays 7 – 9 pm, Fridays 11 pm – 1 am, (one hour later in Atlantic Canada)Listen to the show via Streaming Audio on the internet at http://www.cbc.ca/listen/Show info at : http://www.cbc.ca/vinyltap http://www.randysvinyltap.comVisit Randy’s other sites: http://www.randybachman.com http://www.myspace.com/randysvinyltapThanks for listening!OK Ern, it's me again... I did a search just now...check out this video released soon after the song came out. The lip syncing is so bad it makes Milli Vanilli look tight!!!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7miRCLeF ... ..watching this started my day off with a good chuckle!

[ernstinen]

HaHaHa! Devin!That's a GREAT video! Thanks for finding that!A few things: It sure looks like a Rickenbacker bass, and the bass player isn't using a pick, where it's obvious that on the recording the bass player used a pick. And I'm also pretty sure that Randy Bachman played the lead guitar part on the recording. That's classic Bachman, so I don't know why they faked it with the hippy dude playing an SG!BTW, I know that Randy Bachman is/was a TAXI member, so maybe we should ask Jimi to contact him and find out what's up with that!Best Regards,Ern

[Mark Kaufman]

I'm friendly with a Canadian gentleman on a Rickenbacker forum who used to play with Randy Bachman back in the 60's. He has his own section on rock and roll, so I put the question to him:http://www.rickresource.com/phpBB3/view ... =382692Not sure if he'll find out the facts, but maybe we'll get lucky. -mk

[ggalen]

I'd like to listen to the Guitarology show, but I can't find a link to listen to that show on the CBC site.Do you have a link?Thanks!