Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Played many of their songs back then, but not my top favs at the time. Preferred the songs and especially the bass playing from Uriah Heep! Nonetheless,there must be some good karma coming from my little Marshall stack that was said to have been used at a DP concert.

IMO, Deep Purple never got the recognition they deserved. Yeah, in 1972-1973, they were pretty hot, but they had so much more godd material both before and after that.

I think they are probably one of the top ten best known hard rock bands, they were huge back during the early 70's as you say and have enjoyed a resurgence recently as have a lot of bands from that era. Young people are rediscovering music from back then and realizing that it is different from the stuff out now.

"Led Zeppelin's fourth album, Black Sabbath's Paranoid, and Deep Purple's Machine Head have stood the test of time as the Holy Trinity of early English hard rock and heavy metal."

What rock band hasn't covered this stuff and what guitar player didn't first learn the opening riff of Smoke On The Water. MH is still one of my all time favorite albums from my mis-spent youth.

I always liked Zep's first album the best. Nice and Raw. Saw them play it in 1969 too in a club in Boston.

I love Glover's playing but can't stand his vocals. I prefer the Coverdale songs from the era that the 2 were in the band together.

As a Rick tie in, I think was the hey day for the 4001 sound in rock. Squire, Glenn Hughes, Glover, Geddy, Lemmy, others. It's not a list your favorite Rick player thread, but if most people associate the Rick bass sound with early hard rock/metal, this was the gestation period. The Kinks and Beatles/Wings really didn't do its clanky bass sound justice. Only when backing hard rock did the Rick set itself apart from its contemporaries IMHO.

I think Squire, Glover, and Geddy did more for the 4001 bass than anyone at least overtly, McCartney's influence is much more subtle and maybe a lot more ubiquitous than you think.

Wes - good point.

Yes but the clanky sound was also almost their undoing at least here during the late 70's early 80's when everyone deserted them in droves because "they didn't have any bottom". There was a long time when you almost couldn't give them away.
Ricks are capable of far more than the "clanky" sound.

Quote - "I love Glover's playing but can't stand his vocals. I prefer the Coverdale songs from the era that the 2 were in the band together".

Sean, aren't you thinking of Glenn Hughes?

I would agree with Wes that that was the heyday for Rics; all those players have a great deal to do with why I play them, although I certainly agree with Bob that McCartney was more important than some give credit for as I'm sure he was an influence on many of those players.

On a personal level, I suspect it may have been listening to the Beatles as a kid (particularly SP and MMT, which I loved)that got that unique singing Ric tone fixed in my head long before I ever touched a bass, and thus paved the way for "the sound in my head".

"... during the late 70's early 80's when everyone deserted them in droves because 'they didn't have any bottom'."

Well, they didn't have any bottom... unless you knew about the cap bypass mod. I didn't know, I needed a bass that could produce bass frequencies, so I sold my Ric.

I still don't get that 'no low end' thing. As stated McCartney was not really what one would call a clanky player. In some opinions quite the opposite. And he ran around all over the place, in that time period, playing a 4001. So here is a man, with penchant for the low end, who could have had any bass he wanted, playing a 4001. What did he know that no one else seems too?

Glover with the "toasted T-bird". There's a good view at 1:07. Yes, it's a cheesy late 70s video.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kG6NCIpdVtE

Tom: okay, so mine didn't have low end. The day I bought it I took it to a gig. Couldn't get it to sound like a bass, it was more like a guitar tuned down an octave. Nothing we did could change it. It was so embarrassing. In the end, a friend of a friend asked another friend who lived nearby to go get his bass. It was a 70's Fender Jazz and when we plugged it in, finally we had a bass for the gig.

So I don't know about McCartney, maybe he had the cap shunted, maybe not. Maybe he had better sound technicians that can make anything sound good. All I know is that every Ric I've played that still had the cap didn't have low end. At least not like other basses, including, needless to say, cap-less Rics.