John Entwistle and Ric basses

[jps]

Funny, I just pulled out my copy of Bass Culture,there is a great photo of the 4008 in it; if you haven't seen this book yet, GET IT!!!

[1965]

Is that it behind him?

looks like someone needs some wall hangers

[JakeK]

Looking at that pic again, I noticed there's a second Ric bass next to the 4008 (it's hard to make it out, though). Kinda looks like an "S" bass... could it be the old RM1999, sanded down like Macca's 4001S?

There's a clip from "The Kids Are Alright" where John walks down his staircase, with all KINDS of instruments all over the place (on hangers).

And I found it...


Spot the Rics!

[1965]

Yep, seen that before, pretty great. Love how he puts the tommy gun in the guitar case at the end.

[JakeK]

We can see in the vid that there appears to be a late '60s/early 70's 4001 in JG on the staircase, as well as a '65/'66 360/12 MG. Could it be the one Pete used for "Pictures of Lily", and just happened to give it to John?

[deaconblues]

I think I also saw the '59 Gretsch without pickguard that Pete used to record most of the Who albums, including Who's Next...very cool and funny clip!

[scotty]

No rickenbackers here but just john and some thumpin bass

[sloop_john_b]

Ugh. Not exactly John's finest moment IMO.

[scotty]

Your right john. I was trying to find some of johns last performances on YT and stumbled across this.Still thumpin tho
Im fiding the forum really slow tonight its taken me ages to post this Probably down to recent events!

[iamthebassman]

I always thought the 4-string Ric bass in the Ox photo was fretless.

[sloop_john_b]

You're right Ronn, looks like a fretless.

[ram]

May not be his best ... but still a big WOW factor.....

[sloop_john_b]

May not be his best ... but still a big WOW factor.....

"WOW" in some sense, anyway.

The man had excellent taste and restraint when it came to his Who bass lines. Even when he went for distortion (something I'm really not into on bass), ala his bass solo "The Ox", it was done well and the tone was great.

His sound here is completely lifeless - sounds like he's playing through a Line6 unit or something - and his playing leaves much to be desired, too. Half-hearted attempts at string bends, indecipherable low-range pentatonic licks, poor showy "typewriter" tapping, errant open strings and slides-to-nowhere, etc. I love John, but this is tough to watch.

[ram]

While everything you say may be true John... Ent's ****** play still has a Wow factor to it in my book. I can handle lifeless on a youtube video but the guy still has a style and puts thing together in a very cool way. I think it’s good to see even the great ones have an off night every once in a while. But I think his suck level is the OK level of most decent players.

[JakeK]

John Entwistle is one of my favorite bassists (along with Macca and Wyman) ever. He was desinegrating (notably in that video) as he died, but he was a genious at bass.

In my opinion, his best work was probably "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "My Generation". Attached are the best versions of those songs, both of which appear in the film "The Kids Are Alright"