Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Bob...I defer to your research; didn't know about the difference in the windings, either...all I know is when you really get R-O-S going like it's designed, it'll blow the doors off any room.

Personally, I have never understood the appeal of Rick-o-sound. Two of my absolute most favorite sounds are the sound of a Rickenbacker bass neck pickup by itself and the sound of both pickups on - together! I would much rather just split the full-range signal and run them to different amps, maybe one clean and one with effects, but still be able to get a range of pickup combinations.

I guess I'll rephrase it as a question: Is it possible to get the sound of both pickups together while using Rick-o-sound?

Harry ... I agree ... Ric-o-sound is a gimmick ... No other bass in the world comes with the obsolete features that a 4003 bass has ... like a pickup cover, a mechanical mute and a stereo out that splits the pickups to different amps ...

if you want 2 or 3 or 4 signals then split your mono signal ... my band actually fired a guitarist who ran a stereo signal from his rack ...

I swear, it's not the same thing...but this may fall under the category of "subjectivity"...I can't possibly know what you 'hear', and vice versa...

"9 out of 10 doctors agree...what's 'normal' is what's normal for you"...but tell the truth, Jeff: did you like this guitarist?

he was a nice guy ... but his sound sucked ... over-processed ... he wanted to use 3 speaker cabinets ... one stereo left, one stereo right and a mono center channel ... the other guitarist use one good amp ... mono ... and sounded great ...

well since we mike everything into a big PA with one mike per instrument it would not come out stereo anyway

While I wouldn't bother with it for live performance, you can achieve great things when recording strainght into the desk !! By varying the pan on the two channels, & applying delay to one channel & reverb to the other you can create some great sounds

Right on, Bob...there ya go: it isn't just a gimmick in that context, for sure. And Jeff, I gotta admit (and believe me, I live by it now), unless you're travelling millionaires with a tatooed army of exploited workers movin' yer over-blown 'gear' (which most of us players in the world are not) it makes no sense to drag any more 'gear' than is necessary to get the job done. 25 years ago, Robert Fripp said the future belonged to 'small, highly mobile units of culture', and I think he was right...Roll Over, Emerson Lake and Palmer...

ya ... for home and studio ric-o-sound would be great ... but for live performances nobody will ever hear the difference between stereo or mono ...

We heartily agree, Jeff...my hernia and I, that is...

The only time I've seen Ric-O-Sound used effectively was a few years ago, by the New Zealand band, Bailter Space. One of the guitarists had a 360, and was using the pu switch to switch between a Vox and a Fender amp (for radically different sounds). Fortunately, the club (not a big one, but a GOOD one) had a good stereo PA, so even though the amps were stacked one on another, they were panned hard left & hard right in the PA. It sounded great (and looked cool) to me, but I'd freely admit that this situation was probably an "exception to the rule".

I used to use it until I realized that you could get the same sound mono or pretty close to it anyway, I still think it is a usefull feature though for people that use effects.
Dane I've run stereo through two SVT setups and it sounded better when I ran it mono with one of the SVT preamps slaving both heads. I have not fooled with it too much though I've got to say. I am a plug in and play kind of guy I use no effects, just SVT's and Rics. Some of the younger players here who use a lot of effects use it still I think, especially in the studio.