Worked my Rics hard last night.... gig report.

[armybass]

Last night I got a call do a sub gig with a country band at a small out door river festival. I usually do not take my Rics when I do outside gigs in the heat.... but last night I decided that it wasn't that hot and I wanted to take them so I took my 2010 MG 4003 and her 2012 FG 4003. I ran them through my medium rig consisting of a trace GP Preamp powered by a GK 700RBII into a Goliath Cab and we had full sound support with a more than adequate system. My basses sounded great as I thought they would and as the night went on and I got dialed into the front of the house I could hear my Ric cutting through the mix in glorious fashion. I am not normally a pick player but they surprised me with pretty rocking renditions of "Keep Your Hands To Yourself" and "Hard to Handle" so I grabbed the pick and dug in behind the bridge pup for that classic growl. Later we did "Turn The Page" and I played with the pick in between the neck and the neck pup and got a wonderful warm tone. When we were tearing down the sound guys made a point to come and tell me how amazing my basses sounded... that is always nice to hear.

I was not surprised that the basses performed so well but I have always viewed Ric's as somewhat fragile with a need to be babied. Well last night my Rics changed my opinion of that. I was hot and humid and and I was sweating all over them and they responded like champions under the duress of the battle. Love my Rics.

[Kopfjaeger]

OUTSTANDING!!! Just reading your report got me geeked!! Congrats!!!

Sepp

[rickenbrother]

Don't worry, Ricks can take the heat. I did an outdoor gig last night in Canyon Country, CA. It had to be about 100°F there. My '73 4001 and 4001V63 were fine.

[woodyng]

I played my '74 4000 for about 4 hours worth of sets last night,and it performed great. I didn't take a backup,and used it the whole evening. I am amazed at how a one pickup bass can sound so versatile just going from fingerstyle to pick playing and small adjustments to the tone control. I mostly go for a complete clank sound ,but a couple of songs that i play fingerstyle i get a really nice smooth jazz bass rear pickup kind of tone.

[geddeeee]

I'm amazed at the amount of Rickenbacker owners who 'baby' their instruments.

These gorgeous instruments NEED to played... HARD!!! I only ever take my Ricky 4003 to a gig. It never misses a beat, never breaks a string, rarely goes out of tune.
These are real players' instruments.....