BC Rich Basses

[msmucr]

Thats jerry preston playing his BC Rich Wave bass. Wave and Bich are two shapes I wish theyd reintroduce to the import line.

Hello Darkstorm, thanks for info. Found it at old classifields thread, exactly that model.. 1982 http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f126/...-body-neck-thru-not-typical-metal-bcr-223265/
In clip it sounds pretty responsive to me with great midrange punch for neck-through bass.

Michal

 

[Westleigh]

The virgin is also a pretty subdued body shape.

 

[bassplyr54]

Check out my 1999 BC Rich "Bernardo" in the classified section. Its every bit as good as my Warwick or Spector. With neck thru design, ebony fretboard, active electronics and tone that goes forever. I love it and hate to sell it, but I'm not playing anymore and it needs a new home. RB

 

[jimbilly]

I've read that in the late '70s it was pretty much just Alembic and BC Rich doing high-quality neck-through basses. I think I also read that Bernard Edwards (Chic) played a BC Rich Eagle (not just Stingrays).
I've got an early '80s passive Eagle, it's one of the nicest 4 strings I've ever had my hands on. I'm not sure what I think of all the active electronics, my passive Eagle is so good I think the electronics are unnecessary.
I've bought/sold/traded a lot of guitars and basses over the past 20 years, easily over a hundred. The worst guitar I've ever owned (with a recognizable brand name) was an import BC Rich; plywood body, bad hardware, - just a total piece of crap.
I think it would be a safe bet that any USA BC Rich is going to be very good, MIJ is going to be good, any other import probably average or bad.

 

[Bassdirty]

As stated, most people get mad because they don't like the shapes.
The neckdive on the basses sucks.

I have a BC Rich USA Guitar and its awesome.(Its one of the "strat style' shapes though)

The platinum/bronze are entry level...and it shows.

The NJ's were decent entry level (In the old days), but I have'nt played played Rich in yrs.I'm afraid I might like it, and then hate it for the Dive.As I've done with 4 warlocks over the last 15 or so yrs.

I do still want an ironbird though.its a shame they stopped making them.then again,prolly not much demand...and I don't think I'd buy a new one anyway.

 

[Kaappari]

I played a cheap ass warlock bass at strore one time expecting it to be a POS but it turned out to be very good bass at least at that price point (150&#8364. The bass seemed to ring nicely played acousic and the feel of the neck was fine too. My only concern with it was sharp fret ends. Unfortunately I didn't plug it in so I can't comment the aplified sound.

 

[john grey]

What I had heard was pretty simple and I believe accurate.
B.C. Rich was a fantastic mfg which had a high price-point line. They went to Hansar Musical Corp (JUST like Music Man with their "OLP" - Hansar markets firms that want knock-offs at drastically lower price-point) and Hansar made a line of crap slurring the B.C. Rich line below a certain cost level.
Music Man left Hansar (& pulled the license) after less than 2 years but Rich remained. The import Basses were very cheap (in both pejorative & financial meanings) and flooded the low end spectrum. While other mfg's ran from Hansar to larger, more progressive firms, Rich elected to stay. Therefore we see a vivid division between the excellent guitar and the crap bearing the same name, etc.

 

[beebassdude]

i have an 81 mockingbird that the original owner modded and made passive. admittedly the neck dive is pretty bad, but thats the only negative. neck feels great, lots of tone choices even at passive, very aggressive sounding bass with a lot of bite, not as smooth as some basses. and it looks awesome.

im sure at some point ill own and old eagle as well because im a fan of "odd" body types and they have a slew of them to choose from, but ive been impressed with my BC Rich so far.

 

[SotR59]

I bought a BCR "Innovator" bass off Craigslist yesterday. The serial # says it's a 2003: Korean made.
It is a beautiful bass, plays well and is light and extremely well-balanced. Now this is an oddball in the BCR line-up in that it is basically a Pbass shape with 2 EMG soap bar pups. I kept looking at the ad for about a month before I finally decided to check it out. It was 30 miles away.
I was immediately struck by its looks. As for sound, it does take some tweaking to get beyond an almost inherent "slap" tone [think, that little bass lick your hear between scenes on the Jerry Seinfeld show]. But between my amp and the bass controls I was able to get a nice warm tone that I liked. I also think this bass might benefit from flat-wound strings [or at least half/ground wounds]. I have D'Addario flats on my MTD and love them. Surprisingly bright for flats but more warm and smooth.
Now the only problem is I brought it from a notoriously always cold beach town, to my town which is just the opposite, been over 100* all week. So by the evening it was way out of adjustment. But it will acclimate and I can do a full set-up.
It was hard to find much info on this model and what I did find was not totally accurate about mine. The body is supposedly made from "Chesswood" that from what I read is a cheap mahogany type of wood from China. But this bass is a very light-colored wood I'd say is either poplar or basswood, with a quilted maple top. In fact the two wood colors are so similar it's almost impossible to see the sandwich joint between the body and veneer. But it's too lightweight to be a maple body.
So far I am totally digging this bass and once I get it dialed in it will likely be my main one.
One thing I'll have to get used to again is it being active and remembering to unplug it when I'm done playing. The last active bass I owned was years ago and I used go through batteries like crazy because I would always forget to unplug it.

 

[Punisher]

I've owned a 1979 Eagle Koa neck through since 1986. It is by far the best sounding, best playing bass I have ever owned or played. I've owned Rick 4001 (1980), Fender Jazz, Fender P Bass, Guilds, Gibsons, and have played MANY others in my 30+ years playing. The Eagle looks different enough to start a conversation, but not as unusual as a Beast, Mockingbird or some of the other shapes BC Rich is known for. The electronics used on the vintage basses are DiMarzio pbass pickups and an array of coil splits, phase shifters and varitone. This allows me to dial in sounds for virtually any type of music. I am dissapointed in people who dismiss BC Rich because of the shapes. Come on...Danelectro LongHorn, Gibson Thunderbird...not exactly "typical" shapes, nut typically loved.

 

[JonahTheAmazing]

I think BC Rich doesn't see as much mainstream respect because as a brand, they arent always identifiable assay a Fender. You can see a Warlock and distinguish it, but many of their other models, the more subdued ones, aren't nearly as prolific. That, and the neck dive. For me, someone who has never played a Rich, it's hard to persuade me to buy one. I think that some of their line of guitars look fantastic. I wouldn't like one as a bass I dont think.

 

[arsie]

...But lets face it, a blues band with a bassist using a BC Rich warlock is going to look pretty silly. At the same time, there are basses out there that can pull off the same tones as any BC Rich, but also look ambiguous enough to be used with many different genres. I just dont see the point of getting a BC Rich, unless i was very fixated on the body shape...

Having a generic shape AND a generic sound also defeats the purpose of owning a BC Rich. I will not own a BC Rich, but I welcome the variety they brought and bring to the market.

I would hate if all bass companies decided that they need to look like Fender in order to sell like Fender.

 

[P. Aaron]

I think they're cool lookin'. Would get one if the opportunity came up.

 

[Wayne Train]

I've had a lot of basses since 1967 and I've had this '83 passive Eagle NJ NT since the early 90's. Now it's my only one and I play out constantly. There is no neck dive at all. Whenever I let other people play it (which is not very often) I get comments like it's the smoothest, easiest to fret, most comfortable, and so on. If you ever got a chance to play one of the better ones you would know why people rave about these things. I do like to run it through a SansAmp BassDriver DI, but that's just me. Sounds good without it.

 

[Raven2k360]

I bought my B.C. Rich Eagle from a music store in Sasebo, Japan. I wasn't planning on buying a new bass at the time, but I liked the color and body shape, so I pulled it down and played it. The thing played like butter, so that coupled with the rippin' deal (bass, gig bag, overdrive pedal, and an extra set of strings for under $300US out the door), it came back to the ship with me. I still love it, but haven't really picked it up since I bought the Laguna...oh, and it does have some pretty nasty neck dive. D'OH!

 

[mtdmind]

Most of the dissing of BC Rich basses is due to folks not liking their shapes. Too nonconservative for most peeps. BC Rich guitars and basses have been a top fave of mine for decades. I do like soapbar pups better then the P pups. And I do like slim necks. The newer BC Rich basses have little bit slimmer necks then their older ones. Voice wise, their excellent aggressive P pup voicing is a winner to me but still I prefer aggressive soapbar pup voicing more. Construction wise the nj series of old and the nt along with classic series basses have been excellent for the past few decades imo.

Only neckdivey BC Rich Ive owned was mockingbirds. The warlocks, eagles, beasts, that Ive owned did not neck dive past just above horizontal and some less then that.

A lot of people will allways rag on nonconservative looking basses and guitars irregardless of how they actually sound or how playable they are.

BC Rich also voices its pups for more agressive crunchy voice char rather then smooth. Thats a real plus to me but unliked by a lot of people.

Overall the hatred for bc rich comes first and formost imo from people disliking their orientation to nonconservative music. Their being a very long time well respected mfg since the late 1970's also has resulted in their import guitars prices for the mid and up line being a bit higher then comprable electronics package Ibanez & Esp ltd, etc basses to. Causeing them to be not as much bang for the buck in the $350-$699 price range as some other popular brands.

BC Rich like Monson and Moser are more for people who like aggressive music and going beyond mainstream thinking and attitudes. Of course they look a bit odd within pop rock, country and jazz music settings for most of the shapes. But they fit well in heavy metal, electronica, experimental, goth, hard rock, and perhaps fusion jazz music genres for looks.

They are also the formost pioneer in useing P pup stype for neck and bridge pups. So besides the shapes the pups configuration is unusual and rare. Something a lot of folks dont like, not common enough.

The same complaints would be made about a lot of boutique basses body designs if they had originated among import bass makers instruments in the $500 and under price range imo.

I agree, Darkstorm. I have an 80s NJ Warlock that I always feel self conscious playing. Ive set it up perfectly and it sounds and plays incredible now. I have started playing it more with my worship band and it is my preferred bass, now. People were kind of wowed by the looks at first, then they just started to listen to the sound of it.

 

[txthrashking]

As stated, most people get mad because they don't like the shapes.
The neckdive on the basses sucks.

I have a BC Rich USA Guitar and its awesome.(Its one of the "strat style' shapes though)

The platinum/bronze are entry level...and it shows.

The NJ's were decent entry level (In the old days), but I have'nt played played Rich in yrs.I'm afraid I might like it, and then hate it for the Dive.As I've done with 4 warlocks over the last 15 or so yrs.

I do still want an ironbird though.its a shame they stopped making them.then again,prolly not much demand...and I don't think I'd buy a new one anyway.

If they made it similar to the specs of the late 80s to mid 90s then id buy 3

 

[Muziekschuur]

Anyone else with a nice BC Rich bass?

 

[DonaldR]

I have an (around) 1978 USA BC Rich Mockingbird neck-thru.

Really nice bass: very low string action without fret noise, 2 Dimarzio p-style pup, passive electronic with a 6-position "varitone" plus parallel/series switches and a usable on-board distortion.

This bass has a lot of sound option and is very easy/fun to play.

 

[Diegoleafs]

I got an old Eagle fretless at a vintage shop in LA. I love it! Until Alembic makes a fretless, it'll be my main bass.