Epiphany

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 3:40 pm

I did a double bill last night in Boston and the bass player in the other band had a 95 jetglo 5 string. I have only played a few of them in my life and he was interested in my 79 4001 so we talked about it and traded for the evening, I played his with a pick and he played mine in our respective sets. I ended up falling in love with it, especially that low B, it had RW's on it like everyone I have ever seen and sounded and played great, so anyway the upshot of this is that I have decided that I want some 5 string Rics. I know that they are very hard to find so I've decided to have a couple of mine converted and sell the rest of the 4 stringers and try to find 5 string Rics. I've decided since the Sea green and the 72 fretless are rare I'll probably have those converted to 5 stringers and maybe put epoxy on the fretless neck and use very light RW's on it. If anyone is interested in the other 4 Rics I have please e-mail me.

beatlefan · Post by **beatlefan** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 3:54 pm

HAHA!!

Nice try, Bob....

OK, time for a poll.....who here just fell off a turnip truck?

jps · Post by **jps** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 4:20 pm

Funny you should mention that, Bob. The reason I may bring my Zon five string bass to the RIC Confluence was to get a concensus on putting it's neck on my 4005WB and using a Hipshot bridge to make that bass a five string fretless hollowbody. I thought that would be really cool!

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:04 pm

you guys need to give up the electric bass ... it is just a flash in the pan ... in a few more years nobody will be playing electric bass anymore ... get a real bass ... a 3 string bass violin ... a low A is all you need you don't need no freakin E string ... and forget those metal strings ... get the real strings ... cat gut ...

henny · Post by **henny** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:09 pm

Cat gut...

LOL

dave4004 · Post by **dave4004** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:58 pm

Bob, is it true that you're renouncing Ampeg and will play your new 5 stringers exclusively through Peavey solid state combos?

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 1:09 am

Jim Glen wanted to know if Jeff was going to do my 4 to 5 conversions! haha! He took it well though.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 5:33 am

In an old neighborhood in Detroit we have an interesting bar down by the old Tiger stadium ... they do an open blues jam on Thursday nites ... you get a lot of different bass players who show up ... the house bass player is pretty good ... he plays a 5 string jazz and a 5 string music man ... then we get all kinds of bass players who show up and sit in ... there are some who play a p-bass with flat wound strings and don't do anything flashy ... basically they are solid ... then some use rounds and plenty of treble and play slap bass ... then there is a guy 50 something who hasn't really played professionally too much but his kids are grown and he has the money to buy several basses and brings a different bass each time he comes ... he is solid but not flashy ... then there is me ... I usually take a Ric and only play 5 strings ... they enjoy having me there ... I get a good tone and take a few solos ... I am more of a modern rocker so I don't always know some of the old stuff they play ... but with the bass pod and a 5 string bass I get some interesting sounds ... there was a good sound engineer who said that a good bass track sounds like somebody is working on a Buick in the background ...

The point is ... you guys seem to like to make fun of me ... but I used to be like you ... I have played flats ... I played 4 string basses ... I plugged stright in without effects ... I discovered something that gave me more versatility ... I play in cover bands ... I do everything from old Blues to current 2005 hits on the radio ... I HAVE to have basses that cover all of those sounds ... a 4 string bass with flats plugged straight into an amp won't do it ... that gives you one good sound ... it is one dimensional ...

That reminds me of when I went into Guitar center ... there was this guy there who played guitar and he had a real attitude ... so he proceeds to explain to me how to get a good guitar sound you don't need a guitar processor ... all you need to do is plug a Les Paul into a Marshall amp and you have good tone ... well if all you do is play ACDC then that will work fine ... but what if you want to play Metal, or Grunge, or Nu-Metal ... etc ...

That also reminds me of when I was playing at the Machine Shop in Flint ... the sound man couldn't understand why I used a bass pod and wanted to mike the bass instead of using the direct out ... he said "It is just bass" in other words to him all basses and amps were pretty much the same ... just low notes ... if that were true then I would use a Peavey amp and a Fender Squire bass ...

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 5:46 am

Good sound man! Maybe a better job for him would be slinging beans at Taco Bell.

You did have me going there for minute Bob! Did I mention that I routed my 4002 to take a VRI horseshoe pickup? The hard part was getting a straight cut in that damn pickguard! Ok, so it is a day late.

jps · Post by **jps** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 11:38 am

I don't think anyones really making fun of you Jeff, certainly not me. We all have our own ideas of the ideal tone, I am looking forward to the Confluence in May, that should be a real eye opener.

I sure hope you make it there.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 1:17 pm

Jeff I wasn't making fun of you, I just thought it was funny when Jim asked if you were going to be doing the conversions, he's the only one that fell for it I guess, haha! And if I ever do bust you it is all in good fun.

johnashfield · Post by **johnashfield** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 2:04 pm

Oh come on Jeff, everyone is just having a little fun!

And in any event it usually is you making jokes about "just putting down the flatwounds" and countless other posts.

It's all cool, you wanna play things with different tones, that's great. Rock on!

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 2:16 pm

Long live flatwounds!! Viva la flatwounds!

ken_swearingen · Post by **ken_swearingen** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 3:37 pm

I agree and understand where Jeff is coming from. I don't play out or with a band anymore but to be a good bassist now a days is being able to play all types of music with the right tone those of us that play a four string with flats or rounds are limited or limiting ourselves,i admire those of us that can play an upright well and then play a five stringer well.If i were doing band duty as is Jeff i would want to be as versatile as possible to be able to meet all possible scenarios. I for one would not make fun of you [Jeff] but i admire your attitude and share the same.There are bass solos that are hard if not impossible to play without using a five string.CRUSH by bonjovi sounds like a low b in there to me,TRIAL BY FIRE by journey sounds like a lot of low b action to me[through out the whole album]

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 3:57 pm

You don't need effects and RW's to get a good and versatile sound, I too play upright and play many types of music with Rics with flatwounds, and can play 5 string I just choose not to.
This whole thing was an April fools joke, was not meant to put anyone or any type of bass down at all.
This was only a test, a test of the emergency humor posting in your area, we will return you to your regular non-humor posting in one minute.