Rickenbacker bass with effects

[hieronymous]

I was away from this forum for a while, but I'm back! I've started playing with a band again, for the first time in 9 years or so. We've had three rehearsals so far, and for the last one I took my '76 Autumnglo 4001. Wow - that is my favorite sound! The rehearsal was recorded, and I also recorded just my bass into a Tascam portable. The first jam, especially, was very cool - I was using my 3Leaf GR2 envelope filter (signed by Bootsy Collins!) and Fulltone Bass Drive, and also an Adamas graphite pick. The band mix was weird - the mix was being tweeked as I was recording the audio, plus the room mics were on so you can hear people talking, plus the cable was bad so one channel cuts out sometimes. So there are long sections of just the bass - you can hear that I had the mix knob on the GR2 set 50/50 - besides the envelope filter you can also hear the clank of my Ric!

Filter Valley

And here's a picture:

[cjj]

Cool, sounds good!

[coolingitdown]

I've used effects sparingly in the past as well.

In my last band, I ran RIC-o-sound. The neck pickup ran clean and compressed to 1x15 and 2x10. I had a crossover running to send lows to the 15 and Mids to the 10s. The bridge pickup (cap engaged) went to a separate amp eq'd for HIs only and through an effects processor. This gave me a clean, loud fundamental with effects running over the top, sounding vaguely like another guitar. I liked fuzz or chorus best.

Keep rockin' the effects!

[hieronymous]

I've thought about doing Ric-O-Sound, but the previous owner plugged up that jack with a big ol' bolt!

[cassius987]

I was just at Premiere Bass in Superior, CO a few weekends ago and played their MID 4003 through a Way Huge Pork Loin/Swollen Pickle combo... man that sounded sweet! I was ABing it with a Lull P4 and those effects brought great things out of both basses. I'm pretty sure I'll be acquiring a Pork Loin soon for my band.

[hieronymous]

I was just at Premiere Bass in Superior, CO a few weekends ago and played their MID 4003 through a Way Huge Pork Loin/Swollen Pickle combo... man that sounded sweet! I was ABing it with a Lull P4 and those effects brought great things out of both basses. I'm pretty sure I'll be acquiring a Pork Loin soon for my band.

I've never tried anything by Way Huge - my standby is the Fulltone Bass Drive that I picked up back in 2002, never been moved to replace it. Some people don't like them - rumors of loss in bass frequencies, though I have never found that to be the case - and I admit to being bored with the sound sometimes, but I find that it really allows the sound of the bass to come through, which sounds kind of weird for a distortion pedal. But I think that the 4001 & 4003 really sound nice with distortion - not all the time of course, but sometimes I can't help myself!

[jps]

I am considering getting a Blackstone Appliances MOSFET Overdrive pedal, Dean Steliga has one he loves for guitar, and I spoke with Jon Blackstone the other day about it's use for bass and checked out youtube for any videos for such. It just may be my Christmas gift to myself this year.

[hieronymous]

What a coincidence - the rhythm guitarist on the track I posted had one of those for his overdrive! First time I saw one in person.

[hieronymous]

How about envelope filters? What are y'all using?

For a long time I've had the Moogerfooger MF-101 Low Pass Filter - in fact, mine is from when it was still Big Briar, before Bob Moog got the rights back to the Moog name. I love it, but don't use the envelope much. And lately, I've been more into compact, battery driven pedals where possible. I've also got the MXR M-82 Bass Envelope Filter - sounds good, I enjoyed it when I was using it for a while, but it's been eclipsed by the 3Leaf GR2. Especially since I had it signed by Bootsy Collins!





On sites like TalkBass they talk about a whole slew of pedals that I've never encountered in person or sometimes never even heard of. But I'm pretty happy with the GR2.

[pag]

I use the Line6 M13.
Its designed for guitar but theres loads of stuff like Mutron models etc. for us bass players.

[Tbass]

Sounding very cool! I too use effects in the music I play with both of my bands!
Ever since I first started playing bass on an old Peavey Foundation bass (which I still have) I
always like to throw in effects! Lately my band Evertheory has been more of the platform
for my Boss GT-10B and EH P.O.G.

(evertheory is the first link in my sig-choose any of the songs, and you can hear the ric with effects )

[clankchris]

I loved the part at 5:19(especially where that low note comes on) - it was like Squire playing funk:)


I'm a huge fan of the Darkglass B3k and the Tech 21 Oxford. The Darkglass has the best crunch tone I have ever heard come out of a small pedal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21ovdJJwjg0

[woodyng]

i had a mutron 3 pedal for years,sold it during my move to the west coast,but it was the shizzle. i have not tried anything else,but am going to borrow a line 6 recording module this week,i know it has a envelope filter amongst the effects....will let you know what i think.

[rickboy1689]

what a beaut that rick is!!!

[hieronymous]

Sounding very cool! I too use effects in the music I play with both of my bands!
Ever since I first started playing bass on an old Peavey Foundation bass (which I still have) I
always like to throw in effects! Lately my band Evertheory has been more of the platform
for my Boss GT-10B and EH P.O.G.

(evertheory is the first link in my sig-choose any of the songs, and you can hear the ric with effects )

Listening to you guys now on facebook - the new songs sound great! What kind of genre do you consider yourselves?

I loved the part at 5:19(especially where that low note comes on) - it was like Squire playing funk:)

Chris Squire is definitely a huge influence on me. One of my favorite sounds of his is on "Don't Kill the Whale," gritty envelope filter - sound familiar?

I'm a huge fan of the Darkglass B3k and the Tech 21 Oxford. The Darkglass has the best crunch tone I have ever heard come out of a small pedal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21ovdJJwjg0

Never heard of it - sounds pretty awesome! Big variety of tones in there!

i had a mutron 3 pedal for years,sold it during my move to the west coast,but it was the shizzle. i have not tried anything else,but am going to borrow a line 6 recording module this week,i know it has a envelope filter amongst the effects....will let you know what i think.

Definitely like to hear what you think of it - personally, I'm not a fan of modeling stuff, though I have a couple of things. Call me old-fashioned, but I like to know that my sound is being processed as a musical signal, not digitized and then spit out the other end. But line 6 and the other modeling effects just keep getting better and better, so I can't say that I would never use them! Heck, I'm kind of a hypocrite because I do digital recording in my computer all the time!

what a beaut that rick is!!!

Thank you - it's been with me for almost 10 years. The other night the rhythm guitarist who was seeing it for the first time pointed out how "clean" it is for a mid-'70s bass. I never really thought about it, but I am pretty sure I am only about the 2nd owner. When I bought it at Cambridge Music in Massachusetts they said the previous owner probably played in a punk band back in the day - the fret wear is all around the 3rd and 5th frets on the E & A strings. He probably put it under the bed or in the closet in the '70s, never to see the light of day until 2002 when I bought it! I've acquired a pretty nice collection of basses (if I do say so myself) since then, but I can always come back to this bass and feel like I'm back home. Also, the ideal bass sound I hear in my head is what this bass sounds like, so I consider myself blessed!