Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

gee, josh...i thought you wudda walked away with the svt after takin' all that lumber for a test drive !!!!!

Cassius, DrumcityGuitarland (great store) not far from you up in Wheatridge has a pair of MM Big Als, and yes, they are smokin' basses. They just sold the one meant for you - a Big Al Dargie II fretless. Had a chance to play it before it sold, and it was probably the best fretless bass I've ever played. For the hard rock/metal stuff my band plays, the Rics work great on some songs & stages, & not so much on others. In addition to my 4003 & 4004Cii basses, I usually bring my MM Stingray, my Spector Euro 4 and my Ibanez ATK. Sometimes those active basses cut through better & just have the right sound for certain venues, and theres nothing wrong with having a few different brands in the 'ol low-end toolbox. Love my Rics, but there are nights when I swear my Stingray is the best sounding bass I've ever heard....

BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS wrote:gee, josh...i thought you wudda walked away with the svt after takin' all that lumber for a test drive !!!!!

superdick2112 wrote:Sometimes those active basses cut through better & just have the right sound for certain venues, and theres nothing wrong with having a few different brands in the 'ol low-end toolbox.

The weirdest thing about Big Al (or maybe not): to me, it sounded better passive (admirably good at that). Maybe I just like the bit of impedance loading, I dunno.

I'm with Joey, if Rics did not exist I'd be playing a MusicMan or a solid P Bass. (I used to be in love with Jazz Basses but I totally switched teams a few years ago in favor of Precisions... weird.)

BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS wrote:gee, josh...i thought you wudda walked away with the svt after takin' all that lumber for a test drive !!!!!

My backs says "NO!!!"; tone was nice though. I guess GC can't be too mad at me, I probably got those new speakers broken in for them.

superdick2112 wrote: the Rics work great on some songs & stages, & not so much on others. theres nothing wrong with having a few different brands in the 'ol low-end toolbox. .

I totally agree, I love my Rics too, but I need more than just Rics, just playing one brand bass would get very old very fast for me.

Angelo, in some ways I'm the exact opposite of that. There's something that I find really attractive about sticking with the same gun, once you dial into what it is you want to use. I'm not suggesting that it should always be a Ric for everyone--for a lot of people it's a trusty P Bass and I think that's fabulous. In any case I really like the idea of just having one kind of bass to totally let your muscle memory conform to. So while I used to own a bit of a variety pack, I'm now just a Ric bass owner, because after my first one I knew these were the right ones for me. I don't regret selling my Jazz Basses or the Stingray even though I still admire those basses plenty (with some respectful disagreements with the Jazz Bass nowadays).

What people like me tend to do, I am finding out, is collect multiple copies of same/similar models and then give them slightly different setups, etc., to get a slightly broader palette. If I ever get to the point where I can just decide on exactly ONE of my Rics to favor above the rest I will probably end up with just that one Ric, but at this time that would be impossible.