Gig report

[armybass]

OK, here is the low down....Ric's have been one of my favorite if not favorite basses for nearly 30 years. But I have only had three of them over the years. I have been gigging heavy for the past 25 years but have seemed to own the Rics when I had lull's in my gigging. Well last night was the first time I got to take a Ric to a real 4 hour gig. I ran it into my back up rig which is a GK 800RB into an SWR Goliath. I also had my Stingray and the comparison was very eye opening. I was amazed at how huge and alive the Ric had....and the bottom was unreal. My Ric is a 2011 Jetglo and I have never experienced a Ric with bottom end like that. But the real shock came when I got an unsuspected slap solo.....and I was thinking "oh no.....not on the Ric"! But to my amazement..... it sounded awesome! So clear and bright and punchy. The E string did not respond like my Stingray would to slapping but that is beyond the call of duty for a Ric given the differences in the bridges.

[rockinrayduke]

Took me a while to get my '79 set up to my tastes, Hipshot bridge, bypassed the cap, got the neck almost straight, action low. Used it at a gig last week for the first time since I did all that and it was amazing. Ran it through a GK 1001RB into a Goliath cab like you. Think that's going to be my go to bass for a while. Good to hear you enjoyed yours so much!

[cassius987]

OK, here is the low down....Ric's have been one of my favorite if not favorite basses for nearly 30 years. But I have only had three of them over the years. I have been gigging heavy for the past 25 years but have seemed to own the Rics when I had lull's in my gigging. Well last night was the first time I got to take a Ric to a real 4 hour gig. I ran it into my back up rig which is a GK 800RB into an SWR Goliath. I also had my Stingray and the comparison was very eye opening. I was amazed at how huge and alive the Ric had....and the bottom was unreal. My Ric is a 2011 Jetglo and I have never experienced a Ric with bottom end like that. But the real shock came when I got an unsuspected slap solo.....and I was thinking "oh no.....not on the Ric"! But to my amazement..... it sounded awesome! So clear and bright and punchy. The E string did not respond like my Stingray would to slapping but that is beyond the call of duty for a Ric given the differences in the bridges.

I too have gigged on Stingrays and Rics in close proximity though not at the same show. I think the difference in tone for slap is a lot more about the Stingray's pickup placement, and not as much about the bridge, although there are definitely differences in the break angle that could matter. You are right about the Ric though--it is way deeper sounding than a lot of basses which tend to emphasize the mids instead. Honestly, the only thing I have found that beats a Ric for low end is a Hofner! Nothing else. I credit the deep tone of these basses to the pickup placement as well, at least in part. I think this is one reason why a Ric is harder to tame when you want to slap, there is too much low end and it muddies up the signal, even though people normally think the more lows the better. That's why when I'm first working up a slap part I might just do it with the treble pickup soloed and even engage the capacitor.

Keep enjoying both of your basses! You've got the still-made-in-America dream team going.