So has any of the Guitar Connaisseurs ever found out how they achieved the fuzz bass sound on Aftermath?

Was listening to it today in the car and damn, waht a great sound it is, especially on Think and Flight 505.

Framus or Vox Wyman Bass - Maestro FZ-1A - Vox AC50/100 or Sunn amplifiers.

Possible use of DI which would allow you to split the signal which opens up other possibilities regarding where the Maestro was placed in the signal chain.

Mathijs

I think Rubber Soul got the fuzz on the bass in Think For Yourself a few months earlier, and later on Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone used it a lot. So much i like the fuzz bass on the Aftermath-songs, I must admit these were the relative weaker songs on that album.

[www.flyingvintage.com]

Article about Maestro fuzztones

Weaker songs? "Flight 505" and "It's Not Easy"?
Aftermath is not one of my top top Stones albums, but when ever I listen to the more obscure songs I find myself loving them. "Doncha Bother me", "What to do" - both have great bridges. "Take it or leave it", LOL. Anyone listen to only the BU vocals?

Some basses of the time had built-in Fuzz switch. I think maybe the Vox Wyman Bass did (can anyone verify?)

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71Tele
Some basses of the time had built-in Fuzz switch. I think maybe the Vox Wyman Bass did (can anyone verify?)

Not on his Wyman basses, none that he's shown using anyway, his later Vox astro bass had inbuilt fuzz etc though. He got that some time in 1968.

RCA Studios had a Urie 1176 compressor which helped, I'm sure.
Also Wyman's short-scale basses had a lot to do with the unique sound, I think.

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tomk
RCA Studios had a Urie 1176 compressor which helped, I'm sure.
Also Wyman's short-scale basses had a lot to do with the unique sound, I think.

Yes, but neither would deliver the fuzz bass sound. Basses with built-in fuzz were all the rage at the time. I still think it's an instrument with a built-in effect. I guess e should ask Bill though. One of the few things he left out of "Rolling With The Stones".

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71Tele
I still think it's an instrument with a built-in effect.

Why?

None of the basses Bill is shown using at the time had inbuilt fuzz.

Anything is possible but it seems most likely that Bill would have used Keith's fuzz pedal.I think McCartney used fuzz on his bass on one of the Rubber Soul tracks - Think For Yourself?

Didn't Bo Diddley's guitar have all kinds of effects and EQ's installed? Like an Envelope Follower? Somewhere I read that his guitars were very heavy because he basically could pick up NASA with that thing.

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His Majesty

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71Tele
I still think it's an instrument with a built-in effect.

Why?

None of the basses Bill is shown using at the time had inbuilt fuzz.

Just the sound...as I said I could be wrong.

I think Keith played the fuzz bass on Under My Thumb fromt the Aftermath album.

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71Tele

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tomk
RCA Studios had a Urie 1176 compressor which helped, I'm sure.
Also Wyman's short-scale basses had a lot to do with the unique sound, I think.

Yes, but neither would deliver the fuzz bass sound. Basses with built-in fuzz were all the rage at the time. I still think it's an instrument with a built-in effect. I guess e should ask Bill though. One of the few things he left out of "Rolling With The Stones".

As far as I am aware the only bass with built-in fuzz until about mid-66 was the Gibson EB-0 and EB-3, which had the Maestro FZ-1A electronics built-in. Anything is possible, but these basses had the problem of a very slow attack with the fuzz active -you hit a note, and the sound produced had half a second delay, making it virtually impossible to play on the beat.

Mathijs