Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Certainly is. I'm rather late on this thread (no change there then) but I think you know where I stand on Glenn's bass playing Chris, certainly Purple wise (not really heard anything after). Wish he'd traded me that bass.

BTW, I love Glenn AND Lemmy...but then I am a child of the sixties, so I love everything man, LOL!

Some great pix of Glenn. Pix of Glenn with a Ric are hard to find. I'm a HUGE Purple fan so it's nice that Glover and Hughes played Rics at some point.

"He was the reason why for me too. His sound on 'made in Europe' was what convinced me to get a Rick"

He played a Precision on "Made In Europe". He had abandoned the Rick during the latter stages of Burn tour and was using Fender on Stormbringer album and the subsequent tour. The photos on the sleeve are from the Burn tour.

I wonder how many bought a Rick because of that album? Fender must be ****** off!

Glenn uses a Fender on the Cal Jam video. This was one of the first shows of the Burn tour. When did he start using a Ric? Was it something he used for 1 song, or did he use it for the entire show?

He used the 4001 for the Burn album and early tour (1973-1974) dates. Maybe it was Blackmore who suggested that Glenn should use a Rickenbacker because Glover did too? Hughes played a Mustang and a Jazz during his Trapeze days. Maybe he would have used the Rick a lot more if someone had just told him about the cap mod? I have to admit that I like his bass sound better on Stormbringer and Come Taste The Band than on Burn.

EDIT: California Jam wasn't the earliest shows of the Burn tour, it had started in the late 1973 in scandinavia.

Quote - "He played a Precision on "Made In Europe".

Really? I know he used a P-Bass on most of the footage I've seen, but in the upper register the sound is very Rick-like. It really sings out, which P-basses generally don't tend to do so well; it sounds somewhat different than his California Jam sound too. On that the higher strings/notes just seem to disappear, and the sound generally seems more "clunky", although that could just be down to the mix. Not that I'm doubting it at all; I'd love to know where you got the info though as I've been trying to confirm one way or the other for ages! Ironic really as it's probably my favourite recorded "Rick" sound, and I play some of his parts off that album whenever I play a Rick to see how close I can get! Oh well, maybe I need another P bass.....back to the drawing board!

"Not that I'm doubting it at all; I'd love to know where you got the info though as I've been trying to confirm one way or the other for ages!"

Well, Shaun, to be honest I haven't got that info from anybody or anywhere. But it is mentioned in the liner notes of the remastered Burn album that on the later stages of "Burn" tour the Rick got used less and less and Precision more and "Made In Europe" was recorded in 1975, the "Stormbringer" tour.

The pics on the cover are from "Burn" tour, one evidence is that Jon Lord's Hammond doesn't have a Clavinet on top of it (he plays the clavinet on "You Fool No One" intro).

Glenn's Rick had the cap (it sounds like a capped 4001 on "Burn") and "Made In Europe" doesn't sound like a capped Rick (at least to me).

Maybe we should ask straight from Glenn if he happens to remember (those were hazy days...)?

Weeel, The sleeve of Made in Europe shows him with a FG 4001.

That picture made thousands of victims!

A lot of vintage P basses sound *very* close to Rics, and using valve amps at high volumes (and hitting very hard just as Glenn Hughes does) can considerably reduce the differences. Of course it's only my personal opinion, but I clearly recognize the P bass in the LIE album.

It's a Rick for sure. In the quiet(er) passages of You fool know one, while coverdale is doing his vocal thing, you can hear Hughes flitting around up the neck. That's not a Fender anything. It's a Rick.

The pictures show him with the Rick but those are earlier pictures, not from spring 1975. A double cd made from those concerts "Made In Europe" was compiled had pics of Glenn playing the Fender. It's a Fender.

I'd love to hear some live recordings from early Burn tour where Hughes actually played the Rick. I like his bass sound better on Stormbringer and Come Taste The Band than on Burn. He seems to be more comfortable playing the Fender.

Well, it still sounds like a Rick to me, especially the "up the neck" stuff, as Gerry puts it. Its the "doo doo doo" (technical term!) stuff in the upper register that just doesn't sound like a P-Bass to me. As a tester I went out to a local guitar shop, plugged in all the P-Basses they had (admittedly all new), then plugged in my 72 4001, and the P-Basses never got anywhere near Glenn's sound, whereas my 72 wasn't far off at all (this was playing all the high register stuff). Still, who knows? I guess we'll never know for sure, but it seems that I can get a sound much nearer to Glenn's out of a Rick; well, certain Ricks, anyway (my 76 and 80 weren't much like his sound). Regardless, it's a great sound!