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Anyone actually use Rick-O-Sound?

#141
Lets push the envelope to 10 years on this subject loll I used the ROS in the 80's and 90's by using a Y cable from the ROS socket on the Ric to 2 mono cables, one cable into a Marshall 100 into a 2x15" Peavey cab for the neck pup and the other cable into my 1820 Peavey cab for the 2x10" scorpions for the bridge pup..the sound was phenomenal..in my opinion it was THE sound of the Rickenbacker bass.
In my older age loll I have tried it this year quite a few times even at my age loll I still have the same old Peavey 1820 cab with its MKIV head which I send again the bridge pup for the 2x10's scorpion speakers ( dont use the 18" Black Widow inside the Peavey 1820 cab in this configuration..just the 2x10") and the neck pup goes to my Rumble 75 combo..instead these days of a Y cable I use my new 2017 4003 Rickenbacker FG split into a Rich-E-Split(.com) box approx $40USD (goggle the guys website..fascinating) using a custom made 20' TRS Switchcraft cable w/straight plug into the box on one end and a Right angle plug to the ROS on the bass. This is THE Ricky sound I love soo much and worth setting the extra gear up at larger gigs...i dont bother for smaller club gigs but it sounds fantasic on the bigger stages where i'll move the bridge pup amp over the other side of the drummer near the guitarist (cause he likes it and besides his tinnitus blocks a lot of it out..lol) while I stand the opposite side of the drums with the bass sound booming out behind me. From front of house it sounds amazing...even onstage actually digging in to the Ric it sounds great to hear that split of different sounds coming from different areas. To each his own loll
Rickenbacker 4003 01.JPG
 
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#143
I added vintage reproduction harnesses (NOS '60s Caps) with Mono/ROS on a Push/Pull to 2 of my 4001v63 basses. I use the ROS feature pretty much exclusively. Playing with the 2 pickups on separate lines is such a blast. Clean on one pickup, fade the other in with a nasty fuzz. Messing with separate pickup blends/panning/effects after recording is also a ton 'o fun. I'm hooked.

studio.jpg StudioLegend.jpg ROS-Flow.jpg
 
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#144
Ran my 4001 into low and high-end rigs last night at a big club gig. Sound guy raved about my FOH sound: thanks be to Rich-E-Split for delivering up Ric-O-Sound! Onstage, though, splitting bass rig between stage left (highs) and stage right (lows) meant I didn't get to hear and feel the blended tone in real time.

Lesson learned: sonically coherent stage sound > visually balanced, symmetrical backline.

EC Stage.jpg

Neck pickup lows: SWR 4004 + Energy Group cabinet loaded with 18" McCauley.

Low End.jpg


Bridge pickup highs: 1969 Blueline SVT head with restored 1975 810.

High End.jpg
 
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#145
BigOldHarry said:
Well, yes and no. I knew what the thing did technically (I think a salesman explained this too me when I was hammering my mom to buy me a new bass back in '76!) but my question is USE: It may be a nifty feature, but does anyone actually use it? If so, you think it would be simple enough to wire any two pickup bass to do the same thing, right? Why not have your J bass do this?

So I was wondering if this is more of a feature Rick keeps in place to stay 'old school' or is an actually useful feature.

And by the way - you say that splitting the outputs of the pickup to two amps results in a "massive" sound - Where did you hear it this way? Thinking on it, I'd expect to have seen this at a Yes concert, perhaps...

Were it me, I could see bi-amping the two p'ups... but again, that's a fair amount of effort for a fairly subtle change in sound...
Click to expand...
Yes, you can wire any dual pu guitar that way. Check out GunzNGuitars on YouTube. Dude bought a "ric" kit, built it stock, then tricked it out himself afterwards. He created his own Ric-o-sound feature also. He tells you how he did it in the video too.
 
#146
Full disclosure I skipped ahead after reading 2 pages or so..
As a multi-instrumentalist (keyboards - guitars - bass) and a recording, mixing & mastering engineer, I've played hundreds of gigs and recorded & mixed hundreds of songs & records.
Growing up on progressive rock (The Beatles, Yes, King Crimson, etc.) tuned me in to being able to really hear the bass on a recording.
One of the trickier tasks recording and mixing a band is to get the bass to have both weight and presence in a mix. Naturally it depends on the song and the genre, but if you're going for the Squire - Wetton cutting bass sound, having a clean solid low end and a hairy top is a great way to get the bass to sit in a dense mix.
It's understandable that many people don't want to haul two bass rigs on stage to use the stereo features of 'Ric-O-Sound, especially since it has become increasingly harder to make money playing music. But if you have a good following, good paying gigs and a need for something other than a mellow smooth jazz tone, it's an option worth considering. If you're performing music in the vein of Yes, KC, Rush, etc., it will likely make things easier.
In the studio, it could make a huge difference as well. Some engineers record only the DI off a bass; some only mic the amp; others use both signals. The point is 'Ric-O-Sound' would provide more options to get the appropriate sound in the studio.
The one thing I'd be concerned about (aside from occasional reports of the unreliability of the system) is phasing problems from multiple sources, especially if two different amps are used or an amp and DI are used, or one pickup is run through effects and the other is not. But that's true for any multi source recording (I once recorded a guitarist with a number of boutique amps, including a Park; the Park's output had the opposite polarity from the other amp we used - this is often a result of the number of tube stages in a preamp (or the number of power-amp tubes in a 'Class A' tube amp - I forgot which - but in certain tube amps, each tube inverts the polarity). Happily, with modern DAWs, polarity and timing issues are relatively easy to correct.
FWIW, I use a Roland Keyboard amp and a modified Stromberg Carlson fed from a rack mixer as a Keys & bass rig, the signal to each controlled by the pan knobs; it's no Ampeg SVT, but it's light, flexible and allows for a number of routing combinations. The Stromberg is also great to add hair to digital emulations of Hammond Organ sounds.
 
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#147
George Piazza said:
Full disclosure I skipped ahead after reading 2 pages or so..
As a multi-instrumentalist (keyboards - guitars - bass) and a recording, mixing & mastering engineer, I've played hundreds of gigs and recorded & mixed hundreds of songs & records.
Growing up on progressive rock (The Beatles, Yes, King Crimson, etc.) tuned me in to being able to really hear the bass on a recording.
One of the trickier tasks recording and mixing a band is to get the bass to have both weight and presence in a mix. Naturally it depends on the song and the genre, but if you're going for the Squire - Wetton cutting bass sound, having a clean solid low end and a hairy top is a great way to get the bass to sit in a dense mix.
It's understandable that many people don't want to haul two bass rigs on stage to use the stereo features of 'Ric-O-Sound, especially since it has become increasingly harder to make money playing music. But if you have a good following, good paying gigs and a need for something other than a mellow smooth jazz tone, it's an option worth considering. If you're performing music in the vein of Yes, KC, Rush, etc., it will likely make things easier.
In the studio, it could make a huge difference as well. Some engineers record only the DI off a bass; some only mic the amp; others use both signals. The point is 'Ric-O-Sound' would provide more options to get the appropriate sound in the studio.
The one thing I'd be concerned about (aside from occasional reports of the unreliability of the system) is phasing problems from multiple sources, especially if two different amps are used or an amp and DI are used, or one pickup is run through effects and the other is not. But that's true for any multi source recording (I once recorded a guitarist with a number of boutique amps, including a Park; the Park's output had the opposite polarity from the other amp we used - this is often a result of the number of tube stages in a preamp (or the number of power-amp tubes in a 'Class A' tube amp - I forgot which - but in certain tube amps, each tube inverts the polarity). Happily, with modern DAWs, polarity and timing issues are relatively easy to correct.
FWIW, I use a Roland Keyboard amp and a modified Stromberg Carlson fed from a rack mixer as a Keys & bass rig, the signal to each controlled by the pan knobs; it's no Ampeg SVT, but it's light, flexible and allows for a number of routing combinations. The Stromberg is also great to add hair to digital emulations of Hammond Organ sounds.
Click to expand...
I have always strived for both weight and presence in my tone. Clean, rich bottom topped of with some articulate grit on top just does it for me. I achieved this via a Ric 4003 into a Fender 100T/Neo410 for the crunch and Fender SB300/Neo410 for the juicy bottom. I absolutely love, love, love this setup! Couldn't be happier! But its a bit of gear to move around. Then Darkglass releases the X7. Damn if they didn't deliver pretty much what I was always looking for in a pedal. Doesn't replace the Ric-o-sound rig but it is an amazing piece of gear that you can go anywhere with and go straight to FOH or into a basic rig and get amazing tone.
 
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#148
Thought I'd put in my two cents:

A few years back, I played in a Yes tribute band called Ascension. I actually used mono out and split the signal to two different amps using an ABY box at the end of my effects pedals signal. One amp was EQ'ed to low bass and one very trebly. I got the effect I wanted that sounded very early Squire-ish.
 
#153
I have an '83 Jetglow, that I only tried once.
I have plenty of gear to try it again with, including a stereo amp.
I never use it. Perhaps I will try it again.
We dont use amps anymore, but I guess I could run two DIs to two board channels.

I play a '94 Peavey Fury, and love it!
 
#154
Boomhowertx said:
I have an '83 Jetglow, that I only tried once.
I have plenty of gear to try it again with, including a stereo amp.
I never use it. Perhaps I will try it again.
We dont use amps anymore, but I guess I could run two DIs to two board channels.

I play a '94 Peavey Fury, and love it!
Click to expand...
By reading the comments it seems that most people think you need TWO AMPS and it’s a lot of gear to carry . Well … yes and no ; two amps is an option BUT you can also use ONE amp with two CHANNELS ! This is a great option too because because you Can equalize every pickup differently and make the volume of both pickups even (let’s not forget that on Ricks the bridge pickup is never As loud as the neck pickup - and since they are single coils they can buzz if both volumes are not at maximum output.)
The fender bassman has two channels for example ; also all those 70’s and 80’s peavey mark lll and mark lV models had two channels. It takes one minute to plug in and you get all the advantages of equalizing each pickup and controlling the volume of each pickup independently. Really cool !!
 
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#155
lalo_garcia-maynez said:
By reading the comments it seems that most people think you need TWO AMPS and it’s a lot of gear to carry . Well … yes and no ; two amps is an option BUT you can also use ONE amp with two CHANNELS ! This is a great option too because because you Can equalize every pickup differently and even the volume of both pickups (let’s not forget that on Ricks the bridge pickup is never Ad loud as the neck pickup - and since they are single coils they can buzz if both volumes are not at maximum output.)
The fender bassman has two channels for example ; also all those 70’s and 80’s peavey mark lll and mark lV had two channels. It takes one minute to plug in and you get all the advantages of equalizing each pickup and controlling the volume of each pickup independently. Really cool !!
Click to expand...
I have done this many times!
 
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#156

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