Those snarlly 2030 basses ...

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 6:43 pm

I recently re-acquired a 1993 2030 4-2-5 from Mike Skiffington ... I took it to practice tonight and it really snarls ... in technical terms that means it is a step beyond growl ... it is so hot that I don't run the volume at 10 ... I run the bridge pickup a 8 or 9 and the neck pickup at 6 or 7 ... it is so hot it is like an 18 volt active bass without the batteries ... I need to gig this bass ... http://www.3dentourage.com/425/93-2030-5.htm

nattiep · Post by **nattiep** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 7:16 pm

Personally, I really like that bass. It's a nice step away from the 4000 series, but still has the Rick growl, or, in this case, snarl. After you gig it include some sound bytes!

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 7:55 pm

I am playing a 2 night stand at Monterey Music Cafe on Dec 30th and 31st ... I'll take my 4 track tascam and record a few songs ...

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 8:09 pm

Jeff is not kidding, I was amazed at how hot those pickups are. It's a beast, no doubt.

nattiep · Post by **nattiep** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 8:12 pm

Cool. I'm actually excited! It still sounds like a Rick, right?

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 8:22 pm

On steroids!

nattiep · Post by **nattiep** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 9:09 pm

Is there any way to get the high gains to sound like that?

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 4:20 am

it sounds part 4003 and part 4004 and part p-bass and the rest 2030 ... it is not for everybody ... the pickups are really hot ... on certain settings it actually feeds back ... the heavy maple body makes for great low end and sustain ...

can you get high gains to sound like that ... wind them to 15k ohms which is what most 4003s5 basses have ... the ric hb pickups are interesting there are two 2 1/4" steel rails, at the base is a powerful magnet with north and south facing sideways to each steel rail ... then each steel rail has a coil of wire wound to about 7.5k ohms ... so one rail is north and one is south and the coils are reverse wound and then the 2 coils are run in series and that is what makes it 15k ohms ... the series wiring makes it like a hot p-bass pickup ...

I wish I could get the same pickup with wider rails so I could use it on my other 5 string basses with wider string spacing ...

s4001 · Post by **s4001** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 6:01 am

The Glenn Frey bass was one of the best sounding Rics I've laid hands on.

...and I didn't buy it.... grrrrr

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 4:08 pm

here's a recording with my 2020-5 bass ...

http://www.3dentourage.com/425/pink-s.mp3

nattiep · Post by **nattiep** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 4:23 pm

Damn.. wow! that low B scared me for a sec. I had thought "basses don't go that low!" but then I remembered it was Rath who was playing.

Still.. what a great sound. Reminds me of an angry P bass.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 6:43 pm

yep ... snarlly ... the only thing that gets lower than my low b is the kick drum ...

teb · Post by **teb** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 12:00 am

Don't be swayed to the growly dark side by Lord Rath! To really appreciate the 2030, you also need to hear it sing! If somebody will host an e-mailed mp3 or Windows Media-type file (1.5 megabytes) I can show you the light. My 2030 is "somewhat modified" in that I built a new maple body for it, but other than moving the bridge pickup back a little, it only looks different. The guts and basic sound are stock.

I bought a Korg recorder last week and have been playing with it, trying to stumble my way into the 21st century. Anyway, the track isn't really a song, just one take on one track, no compression, no effects, no EQ, no stomp boxes and no plan - just a direct line out of my Traynor YBA200 head into the Korg D1200 with nothing other than the knobs on the bass and amp to adjust the sound. The "piece" has a couple rough spots where I was obviously wondering where I was going to go next, but the sound is awesome.

After rocking in the '60's I spent the next ten years in the folk music scene, where bass players had to be melodic and somewhat reserved. Combine that with another 25 years of playing by myself and you end up with a very different style of music (a couple years of thump, thump, thump gets pretty boring fast and you wind up having to play all the parts yourself). I was seriously thinking about buying one of those oversized acoustic bass guitars until I found that with a little experimentation I could dial-in the same sound, only better, on my 2030. In fact, I think it would be a lot easier to convince most people, even other bass players, that it was a Martin acoustic bass than a solid body Rickenbacker economy model. Whether you dial it in to growl, or to sing, it really is a fine instrument.

I'll email a copy of the file to Jeff and maybe he can post it in his 2030 archives to show just how versatile the 2030 really is.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 3:46 am

yep Todd you are right ... it is a versatile instrument ... I do like to bring out its snarly side by adding a low B and playing through the pod with distortion ... I like the Rush and King Crimson sounds ...

teb · Post by **teb** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 2:29 pm

OK, Try this. As I mentioned, the "tune" is really just a couple minutes of fooling around, run straight out of the amp, one take one track, mostly to have something to practice on with the recorder. No adjustments or effects ( I'm only on about page six of the quick-start guide and haven't gotten to the good stuff yet) and it has a few rough spots since I was making it up as I played, but listen to how clean the sound can be on a 2030 if you want it to be.

http://webpages.charter.net/tbradshaw/