Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Everyone seems to prefer their Strats and Les Pauls for crunch and drive, why? My Ric 620 does it sweet! Last night I was jamming with a buddy using his Les Paul and his PRS (neat trick, two guitars at once ). He wasn't convinced that he was going to like the Ric. When I called him up and said "You gotta come see my new guitar, its a Ricenbacker!" he tried to tell me that for "my style" of guitar playing I should have gone with a "more traditional" lead instrument.

Once he got his hands on it he sang a different tune.

In the end his opinion was "I've played guitars as good as this, but I don't think I've ever played one that I'd consider better." And this guys a riff-rock, blues, metal lead player all the way!

Rics really can do it all.

The more I play my Ric the more I think I don't need the Strat I've been considering.

I overdrive my little 2x8 cab just a touch, I get sweet singing clean sound until I drive the pick just a little harder into the strings and get such clear, harmonic distortion, I can't think that a "more traditional" lead guitar could do what my Ric does.

Then there's the other side of the equation. I think its fairly unusual that I play a Ric almost contstantly overdriven. Everyone always says Rics are the greatest clean-sound/rhythm guitars. Does anyone else use it for harder stuff, or am I some kind of anomaly?

There are the run-of-the-mill McTones, then there are TONES. The tones that make your hair stand on end. The tones that make you stop to think 'do I sound that good'. The tones that make you wonder where you stop and the guitar starts.
It's a pleasure zone that I find on my Rics and no other guitars. The guitars that feel like home. I love my Danelectros, Epiphones, and other guitars, but they are side dishes! (I don't love my Fender yet -'72 Tele Custom).
I play clean, dirty, and completely distorted on my Rics. Rhythm, lead, greasy double-stop chord slides, E-bow, acoustic-y strums, reverbed to surfy proportions, and all places in between (except hair metal, nu metal, etc.).
I've never listened to a word of those who would cast aspersions on the role of a Rickenbacker guitar. So we're a bit of a secret society.
I'm glad to see your friend got a bit of an ear opener.
What am I doing here? I have an hour before leaving for work; I need to plug in and play.
Cheers, Noel

I'm glad someone else on here is using an e-bow!

I love the dirty tones I can get just from my Vox and messing around with some reverb and delay.

Peter Buck likes his overdrive on his Rics, as well

Although their lyrics may not be your taste,
you should check out Sleater-Kinney for the guitar work. . . One of the guitarists, Carrie Brownstein, uses a gritty/slightly crunchy 330 for a lot of tracks. If I hear things correctly, she gets a really neat, snarly-inyour-face, non-jangly lead sound, too. The other player uses a danelectro frequently. . . pretty cool combo

What rick/crunch thread would be complete without acknowledging Paul Weller of the Jam?

Here is a sample of what my Model 450/12 can sound like with a little added distortion.

That's a 'little' added distortion?

that's a 12 string?

Yes it is a 1966 Rickenbacker 450/12 and my comment on distortion an hyperbole, I confess.

Well, I'm a man of few words...

Oh wait, no I'm not...

Sweet, I'm glad to hear I'm not some kind of weird-tone freak.

Peter - very nice - whats the amp being used? Amps distortion or a pedal?

E-bow... mmmmm... hadn't even thought about it....

While I'm sort of anti-distortion-pedal (whenever possible), I do enjoy and prefer the sound of any guitar with a bit of tube-amp growl, the Ric 300 series being at the top of my list.

Typically I use an AC30 turned up to about 3 or 4; if the room's too small or the audience are holding their ears then I have an old DOD FET Preamp pedal with no switch that I put between the guitar and the amp to control the volume, and then an old MXR micro amp for solos.

The natural reaction of a loud amp and a semi-hollow guitar makes for some interesting sustain too.