Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Makes sense. Is a Jazz lighter than a Ric?? My early 80's P-Bass is buried right now but I remember is being a boat anchor compared to my 4001.
Sepp

myfretless wrote:I have read numerous interview with Ged over the years and here is my recollection:

Geddy bought a old used Fender Jazz in the early 70's. He used it for the first RUSH album. Once the band cought on, the record company (Mercury) paid for them to get better instruments. Geddy got a 4001 because it was what his heros were playing (Chris Squire, etc.). Geddy played the RIC 4001 (and some 4002s and 4080s) for the rest of the 70s.

This first Fender was a Precision, the Jazz was, year wise, as has been posted earlier. On the precision he chopped off the wings to make a teardrop shape, funnily enough he lost some low end, but when you listen, it sounds like the sound he wanted in the mid 70's and the sound he pursued with the Ric.

I had heard he went to the Steinberger mostly due to its compactness. At the time, with all of the synths/keyboards and such, the smaller profile just made it physically easier to maneuver on stage...

I saw Rush back in the mid 70's......At the Allentown Fairgrounds. I was close enough to see .what bass he used.

They opened by playing the ENTIRE first side of 2112. Geddy was playing a JG Rick 4080--the one with the six string--
I had never seen one of these.
Alex played a White SG Doubleneck on this set.

For the rest of the concert, Geddy played his JG 4001.

I was VERY curious the see if they could pull off their compositions LIVE. I wound up being BLOWN AWAY by them!!!!!

Lefty4003s8



Do not drink from the toilet when taking Lyrica

myfretless wrote:I suspect that contractually, in order for Fender to continue to pay Geddy for his sponsorship, Geddy has to be seen playing his Jazz a certain percentage of the time.

There's the answer to the original question right there!
Funny though, 70's Jazz Basses, especially mid 70's were quite heavy.
I don't buy most of the stories I've heard about why Geddy stopped using Ricks. Like the one that I'd heard where he couldn't get all the low end that he wanted out of the Rick. Really? Then why did he make his sound thinner with the Steinberger and even more thinner with the Wal? He doesn't use Ricks anymore, oh well. Rush made their very best music when he WAS playing them. That's why when most people envision Geddy Lee playing bass, they think of him with a Rickenbacker.

rickenbrother wrote:I don't buy most of the stories I've heard about why Geddy stopped using Ricks. Like the one that I'd heard where he couldn't get all the low end that he wanted out of the Rick.

That's one I cannot buy either. I have never - never - owned a bass from which I could not wrangle out enough bottom to do the job. I've owned much more than a handful, and every one of them was capable of delivering what I needed. Some certainly gave me more than I wanted in terms of bottom end, and some required a little more tweak from the amp's e.q. than others to get the bottom. But in the end, every Rick gave me what I needed to do the job as well as any other bass.

Dont throw rocks at me for saying this, but Here's a thought,, I wonder if he'd picked up a Rickenbacker at all if he'd found the pawn shop Jazz bass first.

I for one am glad he didn't and I'm sure he wouldn't have given it a look in, in those early days.
I remember reading he was so inspired by Chris Squire and bought his 4001 because of this, he tried to duplicate his sound but couldn't, on the way he made his own sound though, which I'm so glad he did.

myfretless wrote:I have read numerous interview with Ged over the years and here is my recollection:

Geddy bought a old used Fender Jazz in the early 70's....

It was a Fender Precision Bass. Sunburst. He later chopped it into a teardrop shape and ruined it.

myfretless wrote:While recording Moving Pictures, Geddy was looking to change his sound around and was trying to get a different feel. He pulled out the Jazz and used it on several tracks. In fact, he used the Jazz on all the tracks except "Red Barchetta" and "The Camera Eye" with which he still used the RIC 4001.

My understanding is that Ged used the Rickenbacker 4001 for Signals as well as part of Grace Under Pressure.

He used the Jazz Bass on Permanent Waves too. Grace Under Pressure is all Steinberger.

myfretless wrote:So by Roll the Bones, Geddy had returned to his old Jazz because it was lighter.

Nope.
Geddy used the Wal bass, in fact it was a MK II bass, on the Roll The Bones album and tour. No Fender Jazz Bass at all until 1994's Counterparts album.

I think the Jazz Basses can also take more abuse than the Rickenbackers do.
All I know is that Geddy's bass never sounded better than from 1977-1982.
The stereo rig he used then was responsible for a LOT of that great tone.....

cjj wrote:I had heard he went to the Steinberger mostly due to its compactness. At the time, with all of the synths/keyboards and such, the smaller profile just made it physically easier to maneuver on stage...

He was getting tired of smacking the headstocks into his microphone hovering around the keyboards.
Check out some later photos of his Rickenbacker 4001. The front top wave of the headstock is down to the bare wood.

Lefty4003S8 wrote:I saw Rush back in the mid 70's......At the Allentown Fairgrounds. I was close enough to see .what bass he used.

They opened by playing the ENTIRE first side of 2112. Geddy was playing a JG Rick 4080--the one with the six string--
I had never seen one of these.

Why would Geddy have used a doubleneck for 2112??
There isn't any guitar parts for him to play on that track.
He did use that 4080 (MG) (bass/six string) on A Passage to Bangkok, because the solo section (live) has Geddy playing the six string neck while playing the bass notes on thye Moog Taurus pedals. You can hear that on Exit...Stage Left, where that version of A Passage to Bangkok was taken from their 1980 tour. BTW, his 4080/12 was the one that was Jetglo and he used it on Xanadu.
Like the one in my avatar....

rickenbrother wrote:70's Jazz Basses, especially mid 70's were quite heavy.

That's an understatement.
I worked on one last week and the body alone, stripped of all the hardware, was like a boulder.