Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

John,

Thanks for the info!! I just bought a 4001v63 Jetglo and was curious if Geddy ever played any of these original vintage models. My husband saw Rush live in 1980 and saw the full compliment of his RIC collection in all its glory! Living here in northern Minnesota I suspect I have the answer to the big question "why did Geddy switch to Fender"? It is the extreme cold (50 below zero) in winters up here...it must have frozen the area of his brain that makes balanced, logical decisions!!<grin>

Melissa: Yeah, he used to take just about everything with him on tour, a whole bunch of stuff...Rush were big gearheads(and still are to a degree) but with the advances in digital technology their stage gear has been reduced dramatically. Geddy takes about 4 Fender Jazz Basses with him now on the road, and uses amp and cabinet modelers. My .02 on this: Geddy, go back to using a real amp live.

I have seen them 13 times since 1980, and I too got close enough once to where I could spit on his Ricks(but didn't... )

Geddy started using his black 1972 Jazz Bass in conjunction with the Rickenbacker on the "Permanent Waves" album with 'The Spirit of Radio'....he said in an interview he bought the Jazz in a pawn shop for $200.00. You can hear the Jazz on recordings like 'Tom Sawyer', 'YYZ', 'Limelight' and just about every album from "Counterparts" on.....

I saw them in 1976 (the 2112 tour) and I remember Geddy using the black 4001, but I didn't remember (or wasn't close enough) to see if it was checker binding, wide inlays, etc.
Leftybass, I wondered what that "teardrop" lookin' bass was that he used! I saw them 4 times before 1980 and he used that one everytime I think....
Along with the black 4001 and a couple of 4080s, if I recall correctly....