• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Does a Guild Starfire II sound anything like a ripper ?

Jules_P

Jules_P

Jan 20, 2024
17
6
Canada
#1
Hello ! I am looking for a bass that sounds like a ripper, and I heard someone recommend a bass with the Curtis Novak BS-DS pickup (similar to the ones in the Guild Starfire basses)
do these actually sound anything like ripper pickups ? Will I be able to do a kind of Ripper-ish sound ? if not i would love some recommendations in a similar price range. Thank you !
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJ Bebop
#2
Nothing else sounds like a Ripper. The pickups that were designed specifically for it bear no similarity to BiSonics. Not to mention that from the construction standpoint, Starfire and Ripper as as far away as one could possibly imagine.

I'd also argue that there's more than just one Ripper sound. Could you name a song/album that got you interested in the Ripper in the first place ?
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJ Bebop
#4
I was completely unfamiliar with Mr. Barlow...and wouldn't have guessed that he played a Ripper had you not told me now that I've listened to a couple of songs.

To my ears, a Guild B-302/SB-202/X-702 could get you in that sonic ballpark easily but I'm guessing these would fly above the intended budget. I might come up with a less expensive option once I sleep on it...
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJ Bebop and Jules_P
#7
I've owned and gigged both basses, though not in the same decade, and they have very little in common other than both are bass guitars.

I've long been baffled by the love and absurd to me prices that Ripper owners believe their basses are worth, other than for nostalgia reasons or because some guy played one in my favorite grunge-era band. Only one of the four possible Ripper pickup selections available sounded good to me (that one did sound very good, tbh) and aesthetically they're not for me though the tobacco burst and ebony versions look much better.

The current Guild Starfire II basses are very nice and a much better value IMO, if not the best choice for a Dinosaur Jr tribute act. There are a lot of basses that could get you that sound for far less money.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jules_P
#12
The short answer is it doesn’t.

I own a couple of Rippers. been playing one since the 70s. I’m also a big fan of the Guild Starfire. But it doesn’t sound at all like a Ripper IMO.

The key to the Ripper sound is its pickups and electronics that were designed by Bill Lawrence.

The pickups are a relatively low output ceramic narrow aperture sidewinder design that is unique to the Ripper. Basically, they’re a humbucker that senses the string at a very narrow point so you don’t get all the overtones and thickness you get with a regular humbucker. Lawrence described it as having more in common with a banjo pickup rather than a guitar pickup. The combination of the narrow aperture and lower output resulted in an unusually clean sounding bass pickup.

The second key factor is the Ripper’s electronics. In addition to the usual volume and passive tone controls there’s also a choke coil in the circuit. Some have called it a passive midrange control. But I think of it more as a character or presence knob. It allows you to tighten or loosen up the feel of the instrument. It’s effect is fairly subtle but definitely audible. There are many players who have questioned what point is there in the Ripper’s out-of-phase pickup setting. The simple answer is it makes a lot of sense and is a very useful setting provided you know how to use that choke knob.

If you can’t find a Ripper it’d definitely be possible to clone one. Seymour-Ducan’s custom shop makes a replacement pickup that’s virtually identical to the original. The only difference is it uses a different but identically spec’d magnet since the Indox magnet in the original is no longer manufactured. But at $300 a pop last I checked it’s an expensive proposition.

The Ripper electronics could also be cloned. The schematic and wiring diagram are both readily available.

The choke coil Gibson used was custom made for the Ripper. And a replacement isn’t available. But Bill’s wife Becky Wilde over at Wilde Guitar sells a small device called a Q-filter that duplicates the functionality of the original. It can also be installed in any bass, either as a separate control or in place of your regular tone knob. If you already have a clean sounding bass you might want to give that a try someday.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: factory presets, Maxi Funkl, coreyfyfe and 3 others
#13
My question to Gibson, given the fact that the Ripper happens to be one of the best if not the best Gibson bass ever made, why arn't they making it now???? These basses used in all sorts of condition are going for anything from 2K to 6K!!!!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
#15
Jules_P said:
Lou Barlow uses the ripper on most of the early Dinosaur Jr. Stuff, that's where I find a lot of the inspiration for my sound ! other than him, Krist Novoselic is another huge (haha) point of inspiration
Click to expand...

I've been a massive Dinosaur Jr fan since the late 80's. Never seen or heard of Lou using a Ripper.

He currently has a Grabber which looks similar but has a very different pickup to a Ripper.

He's also been a regular P bass user and in the early days was regularly using a Rickenbacker.

Dimed tubed amps, picks and chords played hard will get you there faster than trying to find a similar bass.

And Fwiw, Mike Johnson used a jazz and J also used a jazz and Rick on multiple recordings.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BismarckHerring and IPA
#16
Ampslut said:
My question to Gibson, given the fact that the Ripper happens to be one of the best if not the best Gibson bass ever made, why arn't they making it now???? These basses used in all sorts of condition are going for anything from 2K to 6K!!!!
Click to expand...

As with the grabber, G3, etc., gibson did a limited reissue of the ripper. It wasn’t quite the same as the vintage but close. When these launched the rationale thrown around for all of them being a limited series was basically that they were built in batches, once the parts and materials were gone that was it, and there was not enough demand to make them standard production models.

The reissue prices were also crazy. The ripper II and grabber II were around $2k. The prices on the vintage models have caught up to that now, but they weren’t that high back then. I’ve had five of the G series (grabbers and G3) since 2007ish, all but one were under $1k when I bought them, and the outlier wasn’t that far above that mark. The few times i played a ripper in stores they were always $1500 or less and not selling well at those prices. The covid-era boom in vintage guitar prices hit gibson basses hard, rippers, grabbers, etc are all asking crazy money now.

Gibson Ripper II Bass
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Juice Box
#17
coreyfyfe said:
As with the grabber, G3, etc., gibson did a limited reissue of the ripper. It wasn’t quite the same as the vintage but close.
Click to expand...

Two Seymour Duncan “completely redesigned” humbuckers, a 6-way coil split selector switch, and no mid choke isn’t even remotely close in my book. And the one I got to hear demoed live at a show was a nice enough bass. But it didn’t sound or play like a Ripper to me.
 
#19
Ampslut said:
My question to Gibson, given the fact that the Ripper happens to be one of the best if not the best Gibson bass ever made, why arn't they making it now???? These basses used in all sorts of condition are going for anything from 2K to 6K!!!!
Click to expand...

The short simple answer is that Gibson sees itself as a guitar company and not a bass guitar company. And as a result it was was never really committed to becoming a major player the bass guitar market. This attitude has been confirmed by many current and former Gibson employees who were involved in Gibson’s bass offerings and marketing efforts (or lack thereof) over the years.

The new management is also heavily positioning Gibson on words like “tradition,” “vintage,” and “classic design” plus some quasi patriotic mumbo-jumbo. And the Thunderbird and SGB/EB-3 already occupy that talking point in their catalog. So I wouldn’t expect much in the way of innovation, or a reintroduction of their more interesting, original - and arguably better - Norlin era basses.

tl:dr - Gibson basically doesn’t care about the bass guitar market.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: jamro217

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back