When Geddy was playing his Rickenbacker, does anybody know how often he used the Rick-O-Sound in the studio? Did he typically record every song with the Rick-O-Sound, or did he just use the Rick-O-Sound occasionally?
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Geddy Lee Rick-O-Sound use in studio?
- Thread starter ronlitz
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- geddy rick-o-sound
Hi,
From what I've read he definitely used the Rick-O-Sound in the studio. The neck pickup usually went direct and the bridge pickup to his SVT's and then later his Ashley preamp and BGW power amp setup.
Hope this helps!
Brent
What I'm wondering is - when recording with the Rick - did he use the Rick-O-Sound always, most of the time, or some of the time.
All the time. Until about '84 when he went wireless.
I have an old interview with him and his tech where they didn't want to deal with the mess of stereo transmitters for the Ric and Geddy had switched to the Steiny.
In an interview from a few years ago in the UK Bass Guitar magazine one of the questions they asked him was why he didn't play the Ric more often and he said he found it difficult to achieve the tone he was looking for with just the regular input so why try to chase it?
Now Geddy did use several Rics on the R40 tour but I can't remember if he used the Rick o Sound output or not. his rack rig was HUGE for that tour. He had 2 Axe FX's, Vintech preamps, plus all of his Sansamp setup. I wonder if they split his signal in the Axe FX?
Anyway I hope this helps!
Brent
I don’t know if he used Ric-o-sound prior to Farewell to Kings, but I’m certain he used it on that record, and after it.
It sounds like you are talking about live shows - I'm only talking about the studio recordings.
Yeah, in addition to these questions, I recall that he toured and recorded with his jazz during the permanent waves through signals era. Did he have the Jazz wired stereo to work with his live rig? Anyone know?
No, the Jazz was never wired in stereo. There’s a thread where his touring bass tech (who was a TB’er) for a few years shared some insight.
This tech was more recent though. I think he only worked with Geddy in the 2000’s.
No during his Ric era he used the Ric o Sound in the studio as I said. The neck pick up went direct and the bridge pickup went to his Ampeg or Ashley preamp setup.
I read an article once in "Guitar Player" where he described his studio signal. as I recall, he used the "rick-o- sound", with the neck pickup going direct and the bridge pickup going through amplifiers and miked. When I was in a studio recording shortly after, I explained to the engineer that I would like to try Geddy's' set up. I had a Rick 4001 back then (late 70s) because Geddy was my idol. The engineer gave me a weird look, handed me the studio's worn early out 60s Precision Bass and said, dismissively, "yeah, maybe we should try this one first." Of course, that old P bass sounded fantastic, and I loved the way that thing played with all of the lacquer worn off that old maple neck. No way he was going to go through all of that "rick o" crap. He was a wise man and a great engineer.
Geddy has used Rick-o-sound when recording since Caress Of Steel, I believe.
A few tidbits are in this interview with Geddy and Alex:
"Alex Lifeson - Rush's Kinetic Lead Guitarist | Geddy Lee - Hi-Tech Bassist and Synthesist with Rush" - Guitar Player, June 1980
A few tidbits are in this interview with Geddy and Alex:
"Alex Lifeson - Rush's Kinetic Lead Guitarist | Geddy Lee - Hi-Tech Bassist and Synthesist with Rush" - Guitar Player, June 1980
Totally uncalled for IMHO.I could totally see rejecting the idea of setting up Ric-O-Sound, as doing it right in the studio will take more time and effort. So unless your willing to pay extra, it's probably going to be a non-starter. But handing you a P-Bass and telling you to put down your Ric was tribal nonsense IMHO. The exception would be if the engineer hired you for the session; then it would be totally appropriate for the engineer to say which bass to use.
If you were interested in Ric-O-Sound, you probably should have tried it on your own time. Maybe you would have loved it, or maybe you would have thought it wasn't the worth the effort.
I actually ran Ric-O-Sound for over a year, so at least I know the score. I guess you will never know.
Wow, it was a humourous story about a wisened old engineer, not a personal affront to Rickenbacker....
I could totally see rejecting the idea of setting up Ric-O-Sound, as doing it right in the studio will take more time and effort. So unless your willing to pay extra, it's probably going to be a non-starter. But handing you a P-Bass and telling you to put down your Ric was tribal nonsense IMHO. The exception would be if the engineer hired you for the session; then it would be totally appropriate for the engineer to say which bass to use.
If you were interested in Ric-O-Sound, you probably should have tried it on your own time. Maybe you would have loved it, or maybe you would have thought it wasn't the worth the effort.
I actually ran Ric-O-Sound for over a year, so at least I know the score. I guess you will never know.
IMHO, the story is actually totally fine, but perhaps this is wrong thread for it.
Rics had a bad name in studios back then, much better nowadays. It was mostly laziness and people being set in their ways, they knew how to get a great sound out of a Precision, it was basically plug and play for them.
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