ABBA Bass Sound - What gear?

[DanOwens 139]

Me and a few friends are putting together an ABBA band for a PRIDE event in September. I have a cheapo passive PJ Yamaha and a Darkstar'd Precision. What toys do I 'need' to buy to get some ABBA sounds? Synth pedal? Bass preamp to 'active-up' the Yamaha?

What would you recommend?

[No lust in Jazz 85]

Ideally a Jazz Bass

[Hellzero 3,995]

Listen to this, Dan :

 

And especially this :

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by Hellzero
Links fixed

[Bobthedog 1,111]

I cannot help with the tone, but you will probably need at least two portaloos.  Sorry!

[chris_b 3,959]

If this is a one-off tribute gig, I wouldn't buy any gear for it. Get a regular Fender low mid sound and you'll be there.

[ambient 2,164]

2 minutes ago, chris_b said:

If this is a one-off tribute gig, I wouldn't buy any gear for it. Get a regular Fender low mid sound and you'll be there.

This. Who is seriously either going to be able to tell any difference between your tone and that on the record, or really be bothered? 

[lowdown 860]

19 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Listen to this, Dan :

 

And especially this :

 

Gadd, speaks for himself, I know but, blimey, Anders Wihk and Svante Henryson also know what they are doing.

The arrangements work great.

 

 

[Beedster 3,097]

Abba bass parts turned out to be far more subtle and complex than I first imagined, the quality of musicianship is very very high. Underplaying should probably be the rule of the day, unless you have a lot of time to rehearse. And any bass with Fender on the headstock (or derivative of) will do the job, although of course the Hagstrom Super Swede is the real deal

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by Beedster

[Hellzero 3,995]

23 minutes ago, lowdown said:

Gadd, speaks for himself, I know but, blimey, Anders Wihk and Svante Henryson also know what they are doing.

The arrangements work great.

 

 

And the album is excellent too. I've been listening to it hundreds of times since I bought it when it was released.

[DanOwens 139]

Gadd does ABBA? I'll defo check it out.

 

And yeah, I know I don't NEED more gear, but I have a load of stuff in storage (synth pedals etc) that I was going to fish out or trade depending on people's recommendations.

[cetera 1,475]

Jazz bass or Super Swede, some bright-ish flats, solid lo mids and an occasional chorus pedal. Job done.

[darkandrew 143]

6 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Listen to this, Dan :

 

And especially this :

 

Sorry, I know it's infantile and I should be able to ignore it but all those "jazz faces" just put me right off. Sorry ...

[itu 935]

If I remember right, Gunnarsson's neck through was sometimes doubled with keys.

By the way, it is interesting to listen to the drums: try to find fills. Björn & Benny wanted the drums to sound like a machine.

[lowdown 860]

There were three different Bass players on all those ABBA tracks. Although Rutger Gunnarsson played on the bulk of them, UK Bassist, Mike Watson, played on some of the big hits as well (Arnold Paseiro played on Voulez Vous) . 

A good read here about them all. 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/philwbass.com/2014/01/02/the-bassists-of-abba/amp/?espv=1

 

 

 

 

 

[Doddy 129]

Rutgar Gunnarsson usually played a  60's Fender Jazz or a  70's Musicman Stingray. Later he used the Hagstrom Super Swede and a Steinberger (according to his interview in Bass Player years ago.)

Mike Watson  usually used a '60's Fender Jazz.

 

[lemmywinks 1,029]

Some great (and unexpectedly complex) bass lines in ABBA songs, have fun. I just use a bog standard J bass sound, had far more fun learning/playing ABBA than I thought I would!

[wateroftyne 3,453]

8 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Listen to this, Dan :

 

And especially this :

 

Love Gadd, but that’s horrid 😄

[Woodinblack 4,318]

19 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

Love Gadd, but that’s horrid 😄

Luckily I never heard of them to be disappointed but that is really awful.

We play does your mother know, but I suspect you don't want to play it like us. I use the Obsydian drive on the helix, with a little bypass on a second channel to retain bass. 

[EBS_freak 4,102]

On 02/03/2020 at 21:28, lemmywinks said:

Some great (and unexpectedly complex) bass lines in ABBA songs, have fun. I just use a bog standard J bass sound, had far more fun learning/playing ABBA than I thought I would!

If you think the bass lines are great (some of the best lines ever written in my pop imho), listen to the isolated vocals on youtube. It'll blow your socks off when you hear exactly what is going on...

 

[E sharp 182]

10 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

If you think the bass lines are great (some of the best lines ever written in my pop imho), listen to the isolated vocals on youtube. It'll blow your socks off when you hear exactly what is going on...

 

My opinion , is that Benny and Bjorn are ahead of Lennon and McCartney , in crafting perfect pop songs . Some of them are perfect

[EBS_freak 4,102]

3 minutes ago, E sharp said:

My opinion , is that Benny and Bjorn are ahead of Lennon and McCartney , in crafting perfect pop songs . Some of them are perfect

I've said that myself to many... (only to be scoffed at)

[E sharp 182]

Then they should check out some of the lesser known album tracks - delve in with headphones and soak it up .

[EBS_freak 4,102]

1 minute ago, E sharp said:

Then they should check out some of the lesser known album tracks - delve in with headphones and soak it up .

I've also said that. Of course, you know they will never do such a thing.

[Reggaebass 4,159]

I didn’t take any notice of Abba in their day, but listening to them now I realise how good they really were 

[Hellzero 3,995]

Even Lemmy was an Abba fan. That said, they came long after the Beatles and did learn their lesson more than well. Great pop tunes, for sure, very very well composed and arranged. Wish there were still so good pop bands nowadays.