Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

We were doing some live recording last Friday and Saturday at our rugular bar. The engineer said that he was just blown away by the tone of my ric. He was surprised to see it at the gig and was expecting a pbass.

He was not just being polite.....he would not shut up about the bass tone he got.


I think that's a good thing.

Ric's rule ...

Its a wonderful thing to have a sound engineer that is excited about the bass tone, let alone one that likes a Rickenbacker.

It's the worst when you get a sound engineer that tries to make your Rick sound like a F*nd*r!!

I once had a (so-called) producer try and make my flatwound equipped 4001 sound like it had roundwounds! After I spent some time getting a sound I liked at the board, I came back to hear my bass sounding totally different... he said "I was trying to get that Ricky sound..."

Duh!

Just came back from a local music store here and once again, I just can not find anything as pleasant as a Ric !!! So many other brands, models and manufacturers but I always, always go back to the Ric.

There is no substitute. Since I picked up my first one 23 years ago, nothing else does it for me!

I've tried others every time I go to a guitar store, but my hands and ears say "aaahhhhhhhh" when I get home to my Ricks.

I should add this was a blues gig and I have TI flats on my 4001 and did the bypass.

The engineer was getting a gorgeous old school thump .....direct, miked , and ambient.

Joey, I went thru that one at a bar we used to play at a lot, the sound guy said, "Man, I hate those Rickenbackers, can't get any bottom out of 'em. Ever tried a P-bass?" and I was like, "look, dude, I'll handle it from here, you just push the fader up, OK?"

Rickenbackers slaughter P-basses. Every time. Flats or rounds, it doesn't matter. Except on "Live at the Isle of Wight", but in that case, John Entwistle has crazy gain going on it . . . so much so that it doesn't sound like a P-bass at all. But still . . . Rickenbackers have tons of bottom. It's like people have no concept of turning the knobs on the bass or maybe even *gasp* changing strings!

I like Ricks the best, without a doubt. But I couldn't say that one bass tone "slaughters" another. Often on recordings, i'll play through the song with my Ricks, then my Jazz to see which is the best for the song. Sometimes its the Jazz.

IMO, no bass can "do it all".

But i've definitley gotten tons of flak from people about playing a Rick. Most people seem to have this preconceived notion that a Rick is supposed to sound "twangy", and can't do anything else.

... my 4004Cii and my 4003 are very vertisable. I usually play them with a linear sound on the Ampeg just put the shaping to "1", that's all. However when I blend (my 4004 has the VVT mod)or switch the PUs (4003) the sound is always very different and usefull for all styles of music.
When I played Fenders (P- or J-Bass) or Ibanezes (RoadstarII RB820 and RB850)I realized that they more or less have only one sound and can't provide the range of my Ricks.

BTW I just love killing the nerves of sound engineers with my Ricks (direct or with DI-Box into the console is their nightmare but my greatest pleasure). If they are close to giving up I always ask them to come up to the stage and listen to the Rick sound on my back line. Then they are amazed and go back, trying harder at their console. In most of the time it just works that way: linear tone setting in the channel and a little bit more volume than usual.

Note, I said Rics slaughter P-basses. On the other hand, I think the best stage setup would be to have a Ric and a Jazz bass, one of them being a five-string. In my opinion, J-basses are THE most versatile bass I've ever played, whereas, with a P-bass, I got two sounds: thumpy and slappy.

One Jazz and one Ric 4003 is what I use on stage... love em both but the ric is seeing more action.

One Rick, One Jazz?