Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I am a good bassist. really I am. I play upright, chapman stick and good old electric bass. One of my favorite bass sounds has always been Geddy's ric sound. I love it, it inspires me. So much so that I bought a beautiful 4003 turquoise last year. I COULDN'T GET THAT SOUND. I can play like geddy but the sound was hollow and way too bassy. I sold the bass. I still want THAT sound is it me? is it my amp? or is it the bass? do older rics sound more punchy and trebly?

please help

Brett Bottomley

It would depend on what amp you have but the quickest way would be to just get an early 70's 4001. There's a jetglo one on the Bay right now. By the way, part of Geddy's sound are his very hard fingernails along with the way he strikes/pulls down and sideways on the string to get more out of it.

That has been debated here for a while ... some will say you need a 70's ric bass with the capaciter, some will say you need and old ampeg amp, some will say you need to use ric-o-sound ...

I say you can get that sound with a 4003 ... Geddy gets a good sound no matter what bass he uses ...

I use a 4003 or 2000, or 4004 bass plugged into a line 6 bass pod and then into an ampeg b2r with 4 10" speakers and I mike it with an sm57 into a big pa ...

Part of the Geddy sound is low action and round wound strings ... Geddy knows how to use fret buzz ... then distortion ... you can't sound like Geddy without distortion ... another trick to a good bass tone is mids ... some bass players scoop out the mids and boost highs and lows ... that is a cool sound but it won't give you the classic Geddy Lee late 70's early 80's tone ... another trick back the neck volume off to about 8 and open all the other controls up to 10 ... part of it is attack ... Geddy Lee and Chris Squire both have great attack ... Geddy does it with a typwriter method of attacking the strings and Squire does it with a pick ...

Gain structure is important ... I have a volume control on my bass, and on my bass pod and a gain and volume control on my amp ... that is a gain chain ... if somewhere in that chain one volume is too quiet or too loud my bass won't sound right ... also another mistake bass players make is turning the bass up too much on their bass amp ... I run all of my tone controls between 4 and 6 usually ... when I turn the bass to 10 it gets boomy and overwhelms the mids and highs ...

I have spent a lot of time listening to Geddy Lee and after a while I started to play like him and sound like him ... I recently saw my first video of Rush playing and I noticed that my right hand playing was similar to his typewriter method ... I also use a pick and thumb slap though ...

The sound I try to achieve is part Geddy Lee from "Exit Stage Left" and part Who live at Leeds and part Chris Squire and part John Wetton 1970's King Crimson ... all of those require high gain and distortion and low action and round wound strings ...

If you live anywhere near southeast Michigan feel to drop by and check out the sound that I get from my various basses and amps ... or come and see my band play in the greater Detroit area ...

Jeff - do you use any chorus effect for that "Exit Stage Left" tone?

Ged is awesome. I'm not usually going for exactly that tone, but it sure is sweet.

I also think a part of it was Rotosound RS66 Swing Bass strings, all those guy used them back then. I also believe that he was heavy on the bridge pickup and he played very hard. I am no Geddy expert, but I think you should be able to get that sound out of a new 4003.

I almost never use a chorus, flange, or phase shifter ....

Hello, very good bassist !
1- Really good bassits use their fingers and their ears.
2- Geddy Lee IS a very good bassist, he is the only one to have this sound.
3- Really good bassists don't tell they are really good bassists.

Victor, when someone is posting on a forum for the first time, they want to make an introduction. Welcome, Brett. No one knows how another one plays. I don't know if you are good or not. He is saying he has experience, but has not been able to get the tone. I'm assuming you are a "really good bassist", since you know how they act.
AND, some "really good bassists" use a pick, as well.

I'm a bassist who uses a really good pick.

Chris Squire, Paul McCartney, and John Entwhistle all did some really good work with a pick ... I tell young bass players to learn all styles of playing ... fingers, thumb, pick, etc ... I use a pick about 50% to 60% of the time ... A pick can really help me control volume and attack ...

I am a good bass player and I am not afraid to say so ...

HI everyone

Thanks for the replys. I went to a local music store and tried a new 4003 through an ashdown amp at moderarte volume. I was amazed at how good it sounded. I think that the amp has alot to do with it.
I also think that I want to test drive a 4003 through my SWR and tweak the sound better (I did this with my old 4003 before I sold it , but perhaps a little more patience is needed). maybe I need to get another amp for a ric. So now I'm thinking new Mapleglo. I don't think I'm gonna pay more for a used bass than a new one unless they sound better. I still confused but beginning to realize that rics are different animals and need to be treated thusly. So after I get through my vacation castleing in Britain i'm gonna buy me another Ric.

By the way I only mentioned I was a good bass player because I didn't want to promote any recordings i've made and unless you live in Connecticut it might be difficult to hear me live.
I was just trying to establish where I was coming from and yes I know what a genius Geddy is and I know that I'm not him.

Thanks Brett Bottomley

Welcome Brett.

I can get some decent "Geddy'ish" tones with my V63 and an Ampeg. I play with fingers but I tend to hammer the strings at times. My fingers are thin and boney so it's half way between a pick and normal finger tones. I also play between the rear pick-up and the bridge.

And, I will add that Ron's bass is very pretty, and I'm really into the up-side-down inlays! If that was an option, I'd be all over it!

1.I use a pick and my fingers, but I find it very hard to play with my either ear.
2.Geddy Lee is a good bassist, but I can get that sound too.
3.I am also a good bassist and, like Jeff, am not afraid to say so.

a line 6 bass pod or a sans amp will really help you get that Geddy sound ... these days Geddy runs 3 signals ... one regular, one with distortion and one with more bass ... these are then mixed together ... he uses a sans amp, and some distortion devices and some sort of speaker similator ... I prefer his old sound of a Ric bass into an ampeg amp ... either way it still sounds like Geddy ... again you need attack and gain and distortion to get a Geddy sound ...

I don't use any chorus anymore either, but I remember the closest I've personally been to the Geddy Lee tone from 'ESL' was playing my 4003, bridge pickup maxxed and aggressive attack (like Bob said) through my Ampeg with a lot of tube gain and just a smidgen of chorus from a Boss Bass Chorus pedal. I dumped most of my pedals over time because I found I just liked a cleaner sound and less clutter. Just personal preference. This is a good thread, though - thanks Brett for bringing it up - I am new to the Forum too and this has been a fun one.

I think you can definitely get the tone you are looking for through a 4003. Attack and gain, like Jeff said!