Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I went to see this band tonight at Meadowbrook Music Theater near Detroit, they were AWESOME! Everyone had a great time, how could you not when you are hearing all your favorite songs and singing along to each one?

Big surprise of the night was to hear Rain. Loved it!

yep they are good saw them down here in Florida

I love the accurate backwards singing on Rain. When I saw them, "George" used a Rick 12 for a bunch of songs, but not on all of the obvious ones. For example, on ticket to ride, he used a Gretsch and what sounded like an ADT effect pedal sort of thing, which I thought was odd. Another thing was that they got accurate sounds on Rain and other '65-'66 songs with '64 gear (i.e. j-160e, 325, 360/12, etc., but No Casino or 4001). Still, I guess if it sounds that accurate, it just shows how the Beatles could have just stuck with ricks forever.

1964 is great. I've saw them several times...The guy that plays lennon (Mark) actual built both his Rickenbacker 325 style guitars....HELL of a job! The whole interview about it is in "beatlology" magazine.

Shared a beer with Mark and Gary about a month ago when they were here in Virginia....great guys all around. Great show.

They were the first tribute band I ever saw. I was in high school and dragged some buddies to go see them in Colorado Springs...and the show completely knocked their socks off (you know how hard it is to impress teenagers!) Two thumbs up.

Used to see them in the NH/Boston area back in the late 80's when they were called '1964 as the Beatles'. Yup, great indeedy.

I've seen 'The Tribute' several times and thoroughly enjoyed them (I have a little band Beatles band myself). Sad to say, they lost two of their best members; the original George and Ringo. Their replacements are good but not as good. The first George was incredible. And Ringo looked just like him. The first George not only had the guitar riffs but his mannerisms and facial expressions onstage were just like the real thing. I believe he is now playing solo in Branson Missouri shows.

Yes, I agree... the first George that I used to see was uncanny. The first Ringo was good too but went a little overboard with his mannerisms.

The best show of theirs I saw was in an old stage theater in Concord NH. The crowd was very receptive in the beginning, but when they got to playing 'A Hard Days Night' something triggered in the audience and they (we) all surged forward - screaming and carrying on - and we had our own little Beatlemania going. All you had to do was let yourself go a bit and it WAS 1964 all over again. Great stuff.

Another time they played in a club in Portsmouth and something must have gone wrong with the promo for the gig since there were only about a dozen people there (read: Aldershot). After delaying for quite a while ("John" would peek through the curtains and make his displeasure obvious), the band finally gave in and did an abreviated performance. But it was great... I was all alone right there at a front table within a few feet of the band stomping my feet and singing along with every song.

I've seen them at the Palace Theater in Louisville. It's an old-school theater and they rocked it. It was a great show that was lots of fun. I haven't seen them since personnel changed. As far as their sound, a friend of mine who works at a local guitar shop was up in the balcony and said that he saw that they were plugged into (for that show) Vox Tonelab pedals that were running into the PA.

"Vox Tonelab pedals that were running into the PA."

Interesting. Does anyone have a pro or con opinion of the Vox Tonelab pedal? My experience with modeling circuits is limited to the Line 6 Spyder 212 amp and it was a big negative.

I wonder why 1964 didn't just use their regular VOX amps to give a more authentic sound.

If you go on www.jdbluesville.com/forum , join up there and ask a guy named Milkman... HE's been using a Vox Tonelab SE, switched to an amp rig (Traynor) and switched back to the Tonelab LE because it was more consistent, reliable, and trouble free once you set your patches. He'll answer any Q you've got! HE's been gigging with Tonelabs few times a monthes since they came out!

They had Vox Super Beatle (I think...I'm not a VOX know-it-all) amps behind them but they were not miked, and I was close enough to hear stage volume, it all sounded like it was coming out of the PA. No floor monitors either, BTW.

I should have mentioned it before that when my friend up in the balcony saw the Tonelabs, he noted that the amps set up were props.

Jimmy Pou, former George player, said in an interview they quit using real amps because flying them from gig to gig became such a pain subsequent to 9-11.
I saw them at the Birchmere in VA a short time ago and there were no amps in site. Great sound though. Someone must have spent a ton of time tweaking the ToneLabs.