Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hey guys. From reading different threads I noticed that quite a few of us have church gigs. So, it is not just me then hah? I am not an extremely religious person, but I do it for the music. I am a Catholic, but play every Sunday in a Lutheran church. The service is called "Faith Rocks" and it targeted for the "younger audience". Very casual and relaxed athmosphere. And of course the rock band playing every service. We got drums, electric guitar, a couple of acoustics,my bass a flute and 5 vocals. Sense of humor also counts. You should have seen the reaction after I broke in with Pink Floyd's "Money" riff during the collection.
Anyway, anyone out there doing a similar thing?

I have done that before with "money"....the pastor was not too excited about that. Most of the churches I have played in are looking for a rock band so...the Ric works well for that....

OK Kris,

I've gotta run out of the house for a while, but I'll come back to this thread when I get home.... but YOU STOLE MY LINE!

"I broke in with Pink Floyd's "Money" riff during the collection." I DID THE SAME THING in 1997! I'll explain in an Email.

We have A LOT in common!

My church has two bands that rotate through and I play on one. A typical lineup is one each acoustic, electric, bass and drums, and three vocals. Sometimes a keyboard or extra guitar is thrown in depending on what's being played. We do play secular type songs depending on what the service is about and if the song fits. As long as it isn't too showy and it fits with what else is happening that day, it is fine by me. The church meets in a school, so set up and tear down every Sunday is a great experience, too!

I am the only one playing a RIC, though.

I play my Ric 4003 Jetglo bass every Sunday at church and on Friday nights at a special service. The band also includes keyboard, acoustic guitar, electric guitar and drums. There are four of us who sing.

We play every Wednesday night and occassionally on Sunday mornings. I also play the bass in my CC band....AKA "The Joe Christian Band"
We play "gigs" at other churches and "fests" of all kinds...

I don't play at church, but a kid from the LIFE TEEN mass plays a 330MG on Sunday evenings.

Ric 2004 FG 4-2-5. B2RE, Classic 4x10. We do 4 or 5 praise songs to open the service, three of us are elders! Acoustic guitar, lead guitar, electric piano, and me. No drums anymore. I have to be a bit more percussive and "busier" to fill up the gap. It's a small church so we are all volunteers who just love to play.

Maybe I like the B2RE because I use Chromes and don't like overtones. Although Jeff R. likes the B2 and he goes for that distorted trebly overtony sound that seems popular these days. The sound bites I've heard of his do not sound weak at all, although I believe he also goes through the PA.

I started out on a P-bass with nylon wrapped strings, and an EBO with flats, through a Sunn and a 2x15 Plush cab back in the 70's! You might call that a "round" sound!

Going through 10's with chromes works well for me as I get close to my old tone (same amount of air movement, or close) with more punch and less mud from the smaller cones.

I've played the ones I have had in church a lot and there are a couple guitar players at church that play Ricks too. They are pretty popular with some of us at my church.

I play any one of my five RIC's in church every Sunday. Usually it's a guitar and bass + singers. Occasionally we have piano and mandolin as well. I am using an Acoustic Image Contra Combo (400 watts, 20 lbs. is a real back saver). The bass that gets the most comment is the FG 4001 C64 which is strung with Ernie Ball flats. I have only been playing for a little over 2 years and I figured I wouldn't have too many beer bottles thrown at me in a church setting.

Yeah, it was pretty rewarding playing in this setting and a guy my age when a 16 -17 years old guy made a comment to me: "man, you were realy jamin' there". I used to be bringing different bass from my collection every Sunday, but that time I had my 82 4001 JG. Well, it did sound pretty good and hearing little comments like this from kids, kinda makes you want to keep going.

I sometimes get to do a church gig ... last time I used a 4-2-5 pj bass run into my pod and then into the pa ... no bass amp at all ... and I have used 4001, 4003, and 4004 basses in church gigs ...

I play my 4003S at church every Sunday, but I can't get it loud enough to sound like a Ric, so I sound like a p-bass, all boom and no clarity.

Welcome. Mark!
You'll soon be bombarded with requests for pics.

Mark ... run through a bass pod then into the Pa ... then you have more control over the tone ...