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Best Amp for a Rickenbacker

#45
Real late to this post, but if you really want the classic Squire/Lee/Entwistle sound find an old Acoustic 370 with the folded horn (18" speaker). That was one of the primary amps for these guys. The 18" in the folded horn gave the thump and the ricky gave the crispness. I still have my 4001/370 rig from the 70's and I've always had that sound. On the 370 EQ set the low bad to middle, the next to bottom, next up a little from bottom, and the last two all the way up. On the tone knobs do the same - middle, almost all the way down, and last almost all the way up. It will sound EXACTALLY like those guys.
 
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#46
I'm using this Fender Super Bassman / Ampeg SVT-410HLF set up for my Ric 4003.

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#48
Want that old sound, get the old stuff, as has been suggested several times in this thread.

Ampeg Blue Line SVT amp with a vintage straight back 8 x 10 cab. Can't find/afford that, despite what many say, the modern Ampeg gear is fine, get a CL or Heritage head and an 8 x 10e cab, or something similar.

New Ampeg gear gets a bad rap, but if something does go wrong, Ampeg is good about standing behind what they sell, and I've got lots of new Ampeg gear with ZERO problems.
 
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#51
Hiwatt DR-201 or Reeves 225 would be my top choices, but an SVT or Sunn 200s, Fender Showman or Bassman 100, also sound great with them.

Where I had issues with my Rick 4001 was trying to get a usable D/I tones with round wounds.

Definitely flat wounds if you're going for McCartney tones.
 
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#52
Tommy TBird said:
McCartney used flatwounds and a Fender Bassman 100 amp 2X15's....I use a Tube amp, a Mesa 400+ with two 2X12's for a better bottom end....the graphic equalizer will determine what sound you're trying to achieve.....I'm going to try the Ric Nickel Roundwound Strings this week....flatwounds only give yo one sound...I use a Ric 4001 V63:bassist:
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That's what I love about Rickenbackers. They can go from smooth, big bottom end with the neck pickup, to aggressive, nasty snarl with the bridge pickup. I love being able to go from a soft, pillowy tone to one that will bite people's faces off, with the flick of a switch.

Flatwounds to me sound pretty much like old rounds. I know, that's heresy to say on talkbass, but it's how things sound to my ears. I've used flats a couple times, but always took them off because they sounded the same as the dead rounds I'd just replaced with them.

Totally agree on Mesa being a good way to go with a Rickenbacker. I use an old D-180. Thinking about getting a Strategy eventually. Even though he's not playing his Rickenbackers these days, Macca has been using Mesa amps for quite a while now.

mapleglo said:
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Ampeg. SVT810e, and a PF800.
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That Rickenbacker with the chrome hardware and black TRC and pickguard is smexy.

FFTT said:
Hiwatt DR-201 or Reeves 225 would be my top choices, but an SVT or Sunn 200s, Fender Showman or Bassman 100, also sound great with them.

Where I had issues with my Rick 4001 was trying to get a usable D/I tones with round wounds.

Definitely flat wounds if you're going for McCartney tones.
Click to expand...
I try to avoid DI in general. If I do use it, it's generally only for clean lows.

A 200S would be nice... but why not go 2000S? Nothing exceeds like excess. :p
 
#53
Learning to track D/I really helped me to even out my attack and really hear all the unwanted artifacts that come from
beating the poopie out of your strings live. The D/I was brutally unforgiving but learning to work that way has been invaluable.
 
#54
FFTT said:
Learning to track D/I really helped me to even out my attack and really hear all the unwanted artifacts that come from
beating the **** out of your strings live. The D/I was brutally unforgiving but learning to work that way has been invaluable.
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Yeah... DI tracking for me tends to need to be compressed, because, as mentioned, I'm only doing it in conjunction with a mic'd cab that's powered by an overdriven tube amp... and so I'm going to sometimes be beating up my strings, because a heavy attack makes the amp respond differently and sometimes that's what I want and what is needed.
 
#55
In this home brew project, I'm going D/I '64 Jazz Bass, Half Rounds straight into the cheapo M-Audio internal preamp.



Treble off, bridge pickup off. Just the neck pickup and played with fingers.
2:1 light compression and some EQ tweaks in post production.

I was going for fat and smooth.

The punch comes from the kick pedal being placed just in front of the bass in the mix.

My Rick 4001 might have sounded better D/I if I had rolled off some of the bite on the top end.
 
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#58
My luthier told me not to use steel strings on any of my guitars with nickel frets unless I wanted to replace frets.
The 4003 has stainless steel frets with resistance to fret wear in mind.
 
#60
I can't recommend enough a 2-channel amp that lets you use both channels at the same time. I used to use old Fender Bassman tube amps for this. They worked really well. More recently, I've been using old 2-channel Acoustics, like a 140 or 320. I've found them to work even better. My favorite tones I've gotten from my Rickenbackers is by using the stereo jack and running each pickup into it's own channel. I like running the neck pup clean with boosted lows/cut highs and then running the bridge pup through an overdrive and setting it for getting mids and highs. Blend each channel's volume knob to taste. Even though it's run through a single cab, you can distinctly hear each pickup/channels' contribution to the tone. Massive sound. Totally worth a try if you have a Rickenbacker.
 

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