Geddy Lee and Rickenbacker, "a show of hands"

cygnusbwa · Post by **cygnusbwa** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 8:45 am

What's the chances of J.H. luring Geddy back? Ya know, make him an offer he can't refuse.

wormdiet · Post by **wormdiet** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 9:17 am

Considering Rush and RIC probably have about the same net worth. . .

cygnusbwa · Post by **cygnusbwa** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 9:44 am

Come to think of it, I doubt he would ever play a Rick 4000 either in the studio or on tour. He complains about the 4001 not having that low subsonic bass sound that the Jazz has. The 4000 doesn't even have a bass pickup. Consider it wall art. As Geddy probably would say, "It would look nice next to the Gogan Rickenbacker".

aceonbass · Post by **aceonbass** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 10:02 am

Rickenbacker doesn't pay anyone to endorse their product so I don't think there'll be any "luring" going on.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 10:07 am

I think Ric 4001's/4003's have more bottom end than either P basses or Jazzes.

cygnusbwa · Post by **cygnusbwa** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 10:30 am

Bob, I agree. I have both a Geddy Lee Jazz with real early 70's Jazz bass pickups, and a 4001. Thanks to Jeff, now I'm running in stereo, 2 amps. IMO, the bass response on my 4001 blows away the Jazz. My 4001 is a 1975. From what I hear, the 4003's have even more sub. bass response than the 4001's.

cygnusbwa · Post by **cygnusbwa** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 10:34 am

Dane, I have heard that Rick doesn't pay for anyone to endorse their basses. My question is, did they ever? If you notice on old Rush albums, they are always thanking Rickenbacker as well as Gibson,etc. for their support.

aceonbass · Post by **aceonbass** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 12:17 pm

As far as I know, RIC has never paid anyone to endorse their product. If they gave them away to the "stars" that could afford them, they'd have make it up by charging more for the ones we pay. I read that initially, Paul McCartney refused his because they wanted him to pay cost for it. They finally had to give it to him. Paul has said he'd take freebies from anyone so what kind of endorsement would that be?

henry5 · Post by **henry5** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 12:25 pm

Personally I think Ricks have a different sort of low end; I've never played a Rick that had as huge or fat an E string as my old P bass did, but they definitely sound deeper IMHO; not completely surprising given the placement of the neck pickup (or the fact that there actually IS one!). There's a sound guy in London who wasn't best pleased when I wrecked his PA with my Rick several years ago....and to just hark back to the fret buzz point, I've only found one luthier who agrees with me on this subject, but I LIKE IT!!!! Heck, I always did want a subsonic sitar

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 2:48 pm

Bottom and deep mean the same thing to me, haha! Fenders P basses have a low mid sort of bottom, they sound very thick because of that, I played them for years. The neck pickup on a Ric is all low end, especially the old omes with the 1/2" spacing. That is why I always say you need a good amp to really do justice to a Ric. I haven't tried every amp in the world but old SVT's always seem to bring out the true sound of them due to their massive low end capability along with their mid and treble response.

loendmaestro · Post by **loendmaestro** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 3:35 am

I get way more *** end out of my 4003 than my Jazz Bass. I even dropped some DiMarzios in the Jazz, which helped out a good deal, but doesn't touch the 4003.
All of those people that say "Ricks have no low end" should come to my rehearsal space.
We play in my drummers newly remodeled basement studio, & he is upset that I have shaken loose the a.c./heat vent cover that sits in the wall above my amp!

cygnusbwa · Post by **cygnusbwa** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 4:05 am

I read that about Paul. Like you said, they get them free, we pay a fortune. Because of people like Paul, Geddy and Chris Squire, Rick sold alot of basses. That's a smart move on their part. I kind of wish they would give a few away today. It would be nice to hear a good Rick bass today. If any of you listened to Tool during the Undertow days. That was also a great sounding modern day Rick. Rick has a hard core following, however you don't see many of the Ricks in todays music. You see alot of P-Bass and Musicman basses out there. It gets old hearing the same old bass sound over and over again.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 4:29 am

the old 4001 basses were lacking in low mids ... they had treble bite and bass from the neck pickup ... but the bass cut capqciter and the underwound pickups made for a bass that didn't preform as well in the mids and low mids catagory ... the 4003 does quite well with low mids ... the 4004 also ... the 4003s5 is a very full sounding Ric because the bridge pickup is really overwound ... the 90's 2000 series bass hat very hot humbuckers that give you plenty of low end, low mids, and mids ...

In the old days I used to eq my bass with the happy face smile eq ... in other words boost the high end and the low end and scoop the mids ... this is a very cool sound ... but when you play live this can get boomy and or dinky ...

these days I set my eq like this ...

low mids and high mids give the bass a warm full growly sound and not the boomy dinky sound ...

I also use the bass pod and of course a Ric bass and an ampeg b2r head and 4x10 eminence speakers and I mike it into a big pa ... the 18" subs fill out any additional low end that may be needed ...

Lost Coyotes · Post by **Lost Coyotes** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 7:16 am

+1 for Geddy going back to a Ric. It's been in my hopes for years, and he's the main reason I picked up a bass to begin with.
I've always wondered: what are the odds of three such talented people getting together at all, much less staying together for so long.

henry5 · Post by **henry5** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 10:28 am

Bob, maybe what I said didn't come out quite right

! Seriously, I agree with Chris Poteat, many non-Rick players (and even former Rick players like Foxton)tend to feel that a Fender (particularly a P Bass)gives them more bottom than a Rick. However I think their peception of "bottom" is different to mine, which is the point I was trying (and probably failing!) to make. I agree completely, bottom to me = depth, whereas to many people it seems to = fatness (ie more a big low mid sound, as you say). And I'm definitely in favour of the 1/2" spacing too.

With regards to Chris Decskowski's comment about new bands, I see a few more bands (mainly from my side of the pond)coming through playing Ricks these days, bands like Razorlight and Franz Ferdinand, so maybe there's hope yet.