Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hello, I am new to this site and was thinking about buying a Rickenbacker Bass. I have played A Hofner Bass for a long time. I have not played a Ric or ever been able to hold one to see how it would compare to the Beatle Bass. The Ric looks like it would be much bigger. Can any one shed some light on this? Thanks

Ric has a thinner body I think. Not semi-hollow. Not as thunky sounding. I had a beatle bass copy, but I never had that and the Ric in the same room at the same time. Sorry I couldn't be of any help.

basically put: a rickenbacker has a longer scale length, a thinner body, weighs a lot more ,and is more "electric" sounding

That'll do it. Wish I was smart enough to say that.

I do not own a Hofner, but our old bass player did. My view is, regardless of the amp he put it through, that it was Boomy at the expense of clarity. Almost muddy sounding. An hour or two of listening to this and your head it as thick as a brick.

He would switch to a Rickenbacker bass and complain that he could not hear the bottom end.

I realize that the Hofner is the early Beatles' sound, but it has always been too bassy for my liking.

in a loud live setting with 2+ distorted guitars, a lot of those short scale gibson basses with the large humbucker pickups seem to vanish from the mix as they are too boomy and muddy. Im certain hofners are much the same

A rick or a fender are way better in that regard.

Maybe this pics will help:

My two Hofners (long gone) were 60's models. They had narrow, round-back necks (almost like the barrel of a wiffle bat). The 500/1 is extremely light and when setup right is ok to play. The sustain is poor because but if you like that thump. Newer models are much nicer to play (IMHO) than the vintage ones. Sorry, you vintage Hofner guys but the prices on those old ones are simply stupid given the improvments that have been made over the years. I actually enjoy playing the new ones and have considered buying one again. Paul Boyer has a seriously sweet Hofner that put me into that mind. Thanks a lot Paul......

Here is where I show my Rath-istic side. Put some nice soft rounds on a Hofner sometime. DR Sunbeams are a fine choice. I played my last one with rounds for 2 years and liked it better that way. It will still boom and thump but it will sustain and actually intonate better. Hofners actually shipped with rounds back in the 50's and early 60's. Flats were an addtional charge (according to the Hofner book).

I used to play hofners a loooong time ago ... they are a fragile hollow body instrument ... they are also short scale ... they do not growl ... they are quite different from a 4001/4003 ... a hofner is a one trick pony ... a Ric bass can do many things ...

in a loud live setting with 2+ distorted guitars, a lot of those short scale gibson basses with the large humbucker pickups seem to vanish from the mix as they are too boomy and muddy. Im certain hofners are much the same.

Couldn't disagree with you more on the Gibsons, and I speak from personal experience. Assuming they're properly handled, of course. If not, they're more likely to overpower the mix than to get lost.

But back to the topic: Hofners, like all hollow and semihollow bass guitars, don't have the attack and sustain of solidbodies.

Hofners only have the illusion of more bass, Ricks have more fundamental. Hofners have a BIG hump in the low mids and very little below that. The bridge design is the culprit, and is also repsonsible for the boominess.

As always, JMHO, YMMV, Close Cover Before Striking, etc.

Gibsons have a lot more presence than Hofners and hold up well in loud bands, think Cream and Mountain. The only time I have heard Hofners sound good was when they were through BIG amps that could handle the bottom, big amps and big PA's, and on Beatle records, I think they reord well. They seem to get lost easily even when McCartney plays them live they are lost in the mix. Saying that I would still like to have one. There is a huge difference in the way they feel from Rics, Hofners are extremely easy to play in that they are short scale and don't need hardly any pressure to fret them, they feel like toys to me when I play them, I would have to get used to them before I could play one live.

Actually I think you're right Dave about the low mids. I heard a song tonight with a P bass and then heard a Beatles song and the P bass blew it away for bottom.

I have had both for years -- Hofner 500/1 and Ric basses. The Hofner is a vibe bass and basically it is just for fun. For recording and live there is no comparison to a Ric. I saw Tom Hamilton a few years ago in an Aeorsmith video with a Hofner 500/1 and I bet he did that ONLY because it was a video.

I purchased my vintage (around 1965) hofner beatle bass in 1982...in a time when nobody wanted them anymore here in Italy...I paid it around 70 USD....you could buy a rickenFacker or a fake precision/jbass for almost the double!!! It's a nice cool bass as long as you are a beatle fan and you want your bass sound like Paul's when you play old beatles songs...I really love it but it's like a toy...very light, big bassy sound (I use sixties VOX amps) but no sustain and quite out of tune from the 8/10th fret...don't need much pressure to fret strings but my fingers hurt after an hour whilst I can play rickenbackers for hours without problems.... I think the right real value of a hofner bass would be less than 500 USD. Just because of Paul, it's OVERvalued...no comparison to a Rickenbacker...