Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

that was played with this bass ...



then I used the pod with these settings ...



amp model = amp 360, drive = 2, bass = 8, middle = 2, treble = 8, chan vol = 10, compress = 5, effect tweak = 0, effect = rodent, ... then set to amp and not direct and get ready for a snarly in your face Geddy/Squire/Entwistle distorted tone ... these days I am not using any cabinet model ... also this is the bass pod 1 not the XT model ...

turn it up and have fun ...

I'm sorry! I'm new to this forum and I busted a gut with the "Geddy/Squire/Entwistle distorted tone" remark! What a combo!

Speaking of tone, I have always wondered how they got that tone on "Inside Looking Out". Anybody here old enough to remember Grand Funk? It's ok, I'm 54 on the 14th!

With a Fender Jazz bass, flatwounds and a big tube amp maxed out with no effects, I have heard different brands named including an eary SVT with 6146B power tubes which distorted more than the later 6550's, I have also heard another brand mentioned but can't remember what it was, some wired brand, maybe someone here knows. Whatever it was it was LOUD as you can hear his notes sustain on and on in some songs. You can't get that tone with effects, maybe a pale comparison with a distortion device. He had the best bass sound going back then IMHO. That whole album is unbelievable along with their other first 5.

their 1st album was pretty bad ... "On Time" ... I have been e-mailing a guy who is still good friends with Mark Farner ... he wants me to do a 425 conversion for him ... Mel Schacher also played with a pick ... and he was a pretty good bass player ... and I thought he played a p-bass ...

Charly ... I like to use the pod to get a sound that a big amp turned way up would get ... but with a small amp turned down ....

He played a Jazz, I made that same mistake when I was a kid, I bought a P bass in 1971 after the red album came out because I didn't realize the bass was a Jazz on the cover. I thought he was great.

GFR used West tube amplifiers once they got their name. Local dealer used to handle them, made in Michigan IIRC. Similar to Marshall's just made in the U.S.A. The 4x12 bass cabs were awesome, I used a Fender Dual Showman head with one of those cabs for the bridge pup and an Acoustic 360 for the bass pup until I got my Marshall.

Steve, Did they use those on the first few albums?

The actual song "Inside Looking Out" on Survival is the one I'm talking about. That's about the time I REALLY got into "old" metal. I had a chat with Tommy Lee this past summer where I mentioned that I thought they were part of the second wave of metal. Metallica, Motley Crue, all those guys were late 70's early 80's. He got a look of recognition on his face like it was new info and said, that makes sense!By the way my other point I usually make here and that is you can't divide music up by decades. If you look at it, most of the divisions, or demarcations if you will, would be more mid decade you know 64-65, 75-76, etc.

"Inside Looking Out" is not on Survival, it's on the live album and their Red album which was their 2nd. Survival is from 1971 and was their 4th album in two years. The bulk of their really rocking stuff was on their first three or four albums, they toned it down considerably after that, especially after they got the keyboard player. I myself like the first two the best.
Just my opinion but I don't really think they would be catagorized as a metal band, a loud rock n roll band would be more like it.

the original metal ... Iron Butterfly, Led Zeplin, Steppenwolf, Black Sabbath, and others ... it was called heavy or acid rock ... Grand Funk was more Hard Rock ... like Cream, Blue Cheer, Hendrix, etc ... then there was progressive rock like Yes, Pink Floyd, Tull, etc ...

I remember when Tull was called jazz rock. I never though of Grand funk as being hard rock, they were too much fun. Hard rock was serious like Led Zep. I always thought of Hendrix, Iron Butterfly and Blue Cheer as being acid rock especially considering where Blue Cheer got their name from.

Bob,

Not on the first album from what I remember.
Probably not but possibly on the second.
I'm going to do some research and see if I can find some of the old literature in the archives which will pinpoint a date of manufature for the West Amps.

some of those catagories are ambiguous ... much like today ... what the heck is alternative?

they were metal to me! Sorry bout the Survival thang! I could have swore it was on there! Gettin old! Remember the movie Heavy Metal? Those of us in the Navy in Sf in 70-71 would say GF and Humble Pie would fit into metal. Back then it was about the volume not the style! cranked to 11 I think I heard somewhere. I couldm't stand E Pluribus Funk. In fact, it seems most bands had about two or three really good albums in them. The problem is they released way more!