Chris Squire's bass

squirebass · Post by **squirebass** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 4:45 am

I believe he has switched to large Ampeg Amplifiers since the early '90s... As for the early albums like The Yes Album, you can hear a lot of overdrive on his bass on several cuts, "Yours is no Disgrace" coming to mind first...I think Eddie Offord put him right up front in the mix and probably had a whole bag of tricks for producing that sound. The funny thing is, I'll bet if you listened to the master tapes from The Yes Album sessions and muted all the tracks except the bass, it would sound like ****! Its how it sits with the other tracks that makes it, I'd wager...
As for his recent tone, I really liked his tone on "Keys to Ascention"(sic) and Keys II, which were recorded live in San Luis Obisbo. And I am pretty darned sure he was using "the bass" on all of those tracks...

haw · Post by **haw** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 5:24 am

I read somewhere round here ages ago that he used Sunn amps and cabs in the early seventies.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 5:27 am

Sunn coliseum lead heads for his treble pickup I believe, maybe SVT's for the bass pickup?
I remember reading an article in guitar player magazine years ago about his settings on his Sunns.

relayer · Post by **relayer** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 8:51 am

I think part of the problem with Squire is that he gives different answers to the stock gear questions at different times.

Contrast that with Steve Howe, who can probably tell you exact EQ settings for each track.

As for the Rick, I've always thought, since 90125 era, that the growl and clang seemed to have lost some of it's teeth (I did think that it was his personal choice though - like maybe choosing to emphasize the neck pickup - as opposed to the instrument flaws due to age). As for examples, I go even further and compare the Yesssongs version of The Fish vs Whitefish - it's like night and day to me (I prefer the former by a long shot).

BTW - pictures of that 8 string would be fantastic!

BobKat · Post by **BobKat** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 12:51 pm

BTW, some 4001s basses from the late '70s and early '80s have set necks because they were factory-converted 4000s. They suddenly had demand and no supply for the 4001s.

4001s, 610...great instruments in my book, better than their "deluxe" counterparts

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 2:17 pm

60's horseshoes pickups have steel magnets ... steel does not like to hold a magnetic charge ...

henny · Post by **henny** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 12:20 am

"...4001s, 610...great instruments in my book, better than their "deluxe" counterparts"

How so?

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 5:33 am

Jeff, I thought the 60's horseshoes were made from Alnico. Aluminum Nickle and copper? Although you probably are right seeing as how you owned one.

lshaia · Post by **lshaia** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 7:05 am

Gene, I have the DVD of "Keys To Ascention" and he does use "the bass" for most of the tracks.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 7:17 am

alnico is aluminum, nickel, and cobalt ... the re-issue horseshoe pickups have alnico slugs in them ... the original horseshoe was steel with some trace metals ... they are notorious for degaussing ... and they were not real strong to begin with ...

lshaia · Post by **lshaia** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 7:25 am

I have an article from the November 1994 edition of Bass Player which says, in part: "...his original, circa 1967 Rickenbacker 4001s, which (like all his basses) is wired stereo. 'By having a neck pickup output and a bridge pickup output, Chris can route each signal through different effects in his rack' [says Richard Davis, his tech].

After using Marshall amps for decades, Squire has switched to Ampeg for the current [1994] tour. His stage setup includes two SVT-ProII heads and two 8x10 SVT810E cabinets [on the right], and a third 8x10 cabinet driven by SVT300 power amp [on the left]." (The information in the brackets is my paraphrasing of the article.)The article then lists the effects he was using at the time.

On "Keys To Ascention", which was recorded in 1997 (?) I believe he was using the Marshall again.

ken_swearingen · Post by **ken_swearingen** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 9:56 am

Squire's 4001s couldn't be a 67, square heal and according to wints it would not be a RM 1999.what year is it ?does anyone know the serial #?

henny · Post by **henny** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 10:08 am

It's a '64 - DC127.

mortivan · Post by **mortivan** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 1:32 pm

Last time I saw Yes several years ago (with Howe and Wakeman), he used the Rick for most of the concert. When I saw them several years prior (Rabin and Kaye), he literally changed basses after every song.

squirebass · Post by **squirebass** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 6:10 am

Henny's right it is a '64...
When I saw them last here in Dallas in 2002, which was with Wakeman, he used the Rick for the entire show....encores and all... I loved it!