Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

cjj wrote:Do you want me to paint it black Jetglo while I've got it? I've still got plenty of that Rustoleum left...

Nah, that's okay. I have a Cii in Jetglo.

I believe Dave uses it having the Jazz positioned pickups on or the Ric positioned pickups on.

Hi Everybody. . . .Dave Meros here. . . .This post is a little long and geeky, but I couldnt' help it.

There is a method to my madness. Let's face it. . .we don't always want that Ric sound, do we? There are times when a Fender sound is just more appropriate for a particular piece of music.

When I decided that I wanted a bass that did both the Ric thing and the Jazz Bass thing I bought one from a pawn shop that was REALLY messed up because I didn't want to deface one that was in good stock condition (my white one). The one I bought had rusted hardware, completely oxidized finish, a big gouge where the previous guy's thumbnail always rested, a non-working neck pickup and some weird off-brand pickup in the bridge position. But. .. the neck was good and it played well despite the worn out frets. I could have just as easily bought a Jazz Bass and put the extra couple of Ric-position pickups on that, but Rics look so much cooler than Jazz Basses and I'm in a prog rock band, so there you go.

So. .. I got a fret job, new hardware, and put in DiMarzio J-Bass pickups in the Ric positions (they sound quite similar to Ric pickups when in single coil / parallel mode. I A/B'd my white stock Ric to the black one after I was finished by recording one then recording the other, then running the DI signals through my usual stuff and the difference is virtually unnoticeable.)

Then I put two more DiMarzios in the mid 70s Jazz Bass positions, correcting for different scale length of course (There were a few years in the mid 70s when Fender changed the location of the bridge pickup. Think Marcus Miller). After that I made a chrome pickguard to custom fit all the new pickups, put a D-tuner on it, and it was complete.

The four pickups are placed in exact locations to achieve a certain outcome, they aren't just randomly installed wherever they fit. I was super adamant about getting the pickups installed exactly where I wanted them.

The pickup selector was wired to switch between the J-Bass set of pickups and the Ric set. For each set of pickups there is a volume control for the front (closest to neck) pickup, and a stack pot for rear pickup and tone, so I didn't have to vary from the Ric knob configuration.

Originally I had a really wild wiring scheme worked out where when I plugged into the Ric-O-Sound jack the Ric bridge pickup would be sent through that high pass filter capacitor and out through one of the stereo jack outputs and I could choose whichever of the other pickups I wanted for the other stereo jack output.

But now I do sort of a bi-amp thing so both output jacks are mono and parallel. One output goes to my pedalboard, then into one channel of my Eden WT-1200 head and is my high and mid tone, while the other output goes to the second channel of the WT-1200 and is EQ'd so all the mids and highs are gone. . .making it only nice punchy low end. Then mix the two channels until balanced.

I still have the high pass filter capacitor in there but now it has an "on / bypass" switch, giving the same option as the "Vintage Mode" push/pull switch that 4003's had.

Anyway. . . The bass kicked so much *** that it became my go-to bass for everything and never touched the white one again just because it didn't have the versatility of the new black one. Plus the black one looks way more bitchin', at least I think so.

The difference in tone between the white one and the black one on the CDs mentioned in other posts on this thread is not due to the bass, it's due to a couple factors, but the main factor is that later CDs became much more layered with thicker sounds from all the other instruments, so even though my tone was just as gnarly as ever, it got increasingly covered up by thick guitars, lots of keyboards and louder drums. The earlier Spock's CDs had much thinner tones from the guitar and keys and fewer sonic layers, so I could really easily punch through the mix back in the good old days.

Later I had the Ed Roman bass built with the idea that it would be an exact hybrid between a Ric and a Fender. Fender scale length, Fender body contouring (much more comfortable than the sharp Ric binding edges), etc, a little more svelt "butt end" than a Ric, but a similar shape to a Ric, and all the same tone capabilities of my black one, and the idea was to have a bass that was built stronger and more accurate.

It cost a lot of money to have built from scratch and it was all of those things I wanted, and it sounded just like my black Ric after experimenting with a couple different Duncan pickup models but for some reason I started going back to the Ric, and I use that all the time once again.

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Well, there you have it.

Nice post, Dave. Many of us are rather purist in our RIC admiration, so I think a significant portion of the membership here will sleep better knowing that you used an old beater to mod up. And the tone you get is great; albeit just a bit different.

I think :
It's a lot more fascinating a Ric modified than an inspired Ric

Welcome to the forum, Dave! And as for a long geeky post, it's great to hear the story in all its gory details (of course, I'm a total Techno-Nerd )...

Welcome,Dave!
I'm not so much a purist,as i just don't have the money,time,and access to do much custom work! Someday i would love to have a customized Ric,tho. I really love SB,and since you mentioned it,especially earlier cd's where your sound is more prominent. (i love that you covered George Harrison's "Beware of darkness" early on.....)

Welcome to the forum, Dave! I usually tend to lean to the purist side, but hey it's your Rick. I hope you'll enjoy contributing more to the forum.

Isn't this build a copyright infringement, Ed Roman does make fake gibson necks too (It says it right on his page)

Welcome Dave. Thanks for taking the time for your explaination.

So happy to read you Dave !!!! Thanks again for sharing your story about your Bass and the Tone you are after and deliver it so well, at least to my ears !!! I sincerely hope to go see you one day !!! This would be a dream come true, really !!!

Take care and please come back here often !!! Good luck with SB and your other projects !! Please come to Canada soon !!! I will show you my two Ric Basses !!!

IvanMunoz wrote:Isn't this build a copyright infringement

I would think so!

Welcome, Dave. Not long-winded, but the complete story. Thanks for joining RRF and taking the time to fill us in on this bass. Too cool. Hope you have time to check back in every once in a while.

Welcome, Dave!

Don't be a stranger, please.

The only time I saw Spock's Beard you were not playing bass, Chris Squire was.

Nice post. I've been thinking of a 3 pup Ric for a while now, but all of this 4 pup talk has me thinking.... I'm working along the same lines, but in a Ric/Thunderbird pickup layout.

dmeros wrote:The four pickups are placed in exact locations to achieve a certain outcome, they aren't just randomly installed wherever they fit. I was super adamant about getting the pickups installed exactly where I wanted them.

Precisely!