- Sep 20, 2008
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try a newer fender american deluxe jazz.....with the new pickups, pre, and fit and finish you cant loose!
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Am I crazy? (Rick 4003/Fender Jazz question)
- Thread starter paganjack
- Start date
I hate to repeat the same argument I've seen so often before, but Beatles and Yes. So sonically different and I would call neither of them hard rock or metal.
I have the opposite problem, Jazzes are not good sounding in my hands but Rics are magic. All my bands think so too. No idea what makes you and I different. I usually favor one of the two pickups, depending on the song.
My Ric 4003 sounds great in a mix with SS rounds. It's got more low mid and thump than my j bass. I keep both pickups on full and maybe switch to just the treble pickup if the mix is really dense. Are you using the right jack on your Ric?
Lemmy says metal can be played on a Ric. Cliff Burton clearly was the master of thrash bass using a Ric. I get any tonal quality I want out of mine.
Touché re: the Beatles. Although Yes is borderline metal sometimes.
I played with the compressor again today and that helped a lot. Things are looking up!
Back in the '80s I made due with my Ric for a few years, mainly playing live.
When it came time to hit the studio, the Ric was more trouble than it was worth, ended up recording all Fender.
I'm sure you can make it work, and I hope you do.
Rics are great and like many basses can get you where you want to be sonically, but Fenders can often get you there with less fuss.
Good luck.
When it came time to hit the studio, the Ric was more trouble than it was worth, ended up recording all Fender.
I'm sure you can make it work, and I hope you do.
Rics are great and like many basses can get you where you want to be sonically, but Fenders can often get you there with less fuss.
Good luck.
I had a Vox Phantom I turned into an 8 string in the 80's. I made a new pickguard and replaced the pickups with Dimarzio model J's, one at the bridge and one at the neck.
The position of the neck pickup, where a Rick pickup is, was just awful. Boomy, but lacking presence. Even bar owners complained. So I routed it to move the neck pickup to a Jazz bass position. THAT was excellent and I had presence, punch and no boom.
That Rick neck pickup would be useless to me.
The position of the neck pickup, where a Rick pickup is, was just awful. Boomy, but lacking presence. Even bar owners complained. So I routed it to move the neck pickup to a Jazz bass position. THAT was excellent and I had presence, punch and no boom.
That Rick neck pickup would be useless to me.
Ive just sold my 77 P Bass , 3T sunburst , Tort Guard , Maple Board , all the " right " things , going back to Jazz , and various active others , god help me I tried but just couldnt get with the P sound , I think we all know what we want , some like blondes , some brunettes........
This is so true. I went through the exact same thing. I do miss my SR5 and Fbass sometimes, but I went full circle back to P basses and now own 2 of them. Sometimes you just can't deny what you were meant to play.
I'd say: don't waste your time fighting with an instrument that either doesn't sound right, feel right, or both.
I had lusted after a Fender Jazz bass for a long timeI just loved the way they lookedand finally bought an American Jazz Bass Deluxe. I then proceeded to struggle with the tone (it had a thin, zingy high end that I couldn't cure with strings, EQing or pedals) and the fact that I was getting cramps in my fretting hand. I finally got my s#*! together and tried out some Precisions and Stingrays. Best decision I ever made. I now own two Stingrays and a G&L LB-100 (best Fender P made imho), and my tone has never been better, and I haven't had a hand cramp since I traded the Jazz away.
Get rid of it and get what really works best for you!!
I had lusted after a Fender Jazz bass for a long timeI just loved the way they lookedand finally bought an American Jazz Bass Deluxe. I then proceeded to struggle with the tone (it had a thin, zingy high end that I couldn't cure with strings, EQing or pedals) and the fact that I was getting cramps in my fretting hand. I finally got my s#*! together and tried out some Precisions and Stingrays. Best decision I ever made. I now own two Stingrays and a G&L LB-100 (best Fender P made imho), and my tone has never been better, and I haven't had a hand cramp since I traded the Jazz away.
Get rid of it and get what really works best for you!!
what is your amp rig?
The bass only makes the electrical impulses that the amp and speaker actually make loud.
The bass only makes the electrical impulses that the amp and speaker actually make loud.
According to his profile he's using a Mesa/Boogie Buster! and an Ampeg PF210HE.
Ric5
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- Jan 29, 2008
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+1 internets for you!
Trust me it's not my amp, that setup sounds beautiful with anything. The natural EQ/response of the tube amp + sealed cab (tube bloom mitigated partly by a steep rolloff @ 50Hz) is perfection.
I'm getting closer with some of the tips in this thread, I'm looking forward to trying it out at my next rehearsal (which sadly won't be for at least a month as I'm touring starting tomorrow).
Well being a Mesa guy myself I can testify to the mid forward character that their bass amps have. I like it myself. But I remember when I had a Stingray fretless there were a few frequencies that came through that I just wasn't able to touch with the EQ without killing other parts of the sound I liked. This is kind of true of all tube amps though. The limited EQ means you are just kind of modifying the same baked in sound. Which is a good thing in my book.
Maybe see if you like that bass any better through a different amp? I know my Ovation Magnum sounds like poop with my Bass 400 and no pedals. The same bass sounds insane through GK400R/800RB. Something to do with input impedance and stuff.
Ownd a '72 4001 in 1973, when my band covered lots of Yes and Deep Purple. Put SwingBass 66 on it and nailed the Squire sound, came close to Roger Glover's DP sound. I think Roger used flats, whi8ch is what shipped on the 4001 at that time. Skip forward 40 years, and I now have a 4001C 64 -- the Fireglo reverse headstock like the one Rickenbacker gave to McCartney in 1964. I have GHS Precison Flats on this bass and, expecially with the mute dialed up a bit, it pretty much IS the Beatles Sound beginning with Rubber Soul.
But --and I realize that people will argue this point -- IMHO neither my old 4001 nor my current one punched(s) like a P Bass, or like even my Lakland 55-94. There is a deeper quality to the lows, but not that old-school thump. Maybe I haven't experimented enough with EQ, etc., but for my purposes, I use the Rick for prog rock (with rounds) Or Beatles (with flats).
These days, the only bass I have rounds on is my Steinberger XL2. I used Swing Bass 66 exclusively on all my basses from 1971 through 1983, when I took a break from playing. After long layoff, I went back to SB66, but they had lost their charm.
But --and I realize that people will argue this point -- IMHO neither my old 4001 nor my current one punched(s) like a P Bass, or like even my Lakland 55-94. There is a deeper quality to the lows, but not that old-school thump. Maybe I haven't experimented enough with EQ, etc., but for my purposes, I use the Rick for prog rock (with rounds) Or Beatles (with flats).
These days, the only bass I have rounds on is my Steinberger XL2. I used Swing Bass 66 exclusively on all my basses from 1971 through 1983, when I took a break from playing. After long layoff, I went back to SB66, but they had lost their charm.
I won't argue this point at all.
As great a Ric sound as my old 4003 got, my current lowly P bass crushes my old 4003 in the huevos low mid arena, not even a contest.
Ric's became popular with the prog scene of the '70s because it could sound like an articulate (and often distorted) bass guitar in a time when the lows from other basses simply overpowered the speakers and amps of the day with mud and overexcursion.
With todays modern amplification and high excursion drivers, this isn't so much of an issue.
Therefore bassists no longer "need" to high pass their bass signal to their amp to be articulate (although the choice to do so is cool via push/pull switches).
All above is just my opinion, YMMV, etc etc.
