• 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.

Geddy's bass tone

#922
Russ Ryan said:
Man...I have been outta the biz for at least a a few years! With what is all that is "Geddy"...NO IDEA!...I was bored and came across "Kevin Butler's" question.......Dude...I wished we could of talked before....Sorry,,,Kevin nailed it!...I say that because he asked about Geddy's gear and how I had it set-up in my past touring with Ged. Kevin didn't ask about how to changed a pick-up, etc. All he asked, and really more important, was to ask me to clarify some technical details on GED's setup when I worked for RUSH...Kevin...wish I cold be more help....life away from the road..Love it!
Click to expand...

Nothing really to do with Geddy's sound by what I've read, but I have a question regarding my ric. There is a lot of buzzing on the Low F and B flat. What should I do? I don't have the money for a setup right now :rollno:
 
#923
Hey Presto, I may be able to help you out. Couple of quick questions first:

What year is your Ric ( and it's a 4001 or 4003 I'm assuming)?

Are your frets worn?

Have you ever had the neck adjusted?

Have you adjusted the individual saddles on the bridge?

What gauge strings are you using?




<<Nothing really to do with Geddy's sound by what I've read, but I have a question regarding my ric. There is a lot of buzzing on the Low F and B flat. What should I do? I don't have the money for a setup right now>>
 
#924
11' 4003. I recently changed the strings from stock ric strings to rotosounds standard gauge. There has always had a dead buzz sound. Haven't adjusted anything I'm too scared I might break something hahaha this is my first ric after all. I havent tried fixing anything or adjusting anything on my othe basses either, being a teenager and all I've never had a good feelIng about fixing stuff myself what should I do?
 
#925
Presto2112 said:
11' 4003. I recently changed the strings from stock ric strings to rotosounds standard gauge. There has always had a dead buzz sound. Haven't adjusted anything I'm too scared I might break something hahaha this is my first ric after all. I havent tried fixing anything or adjusting anything on my othe basses either, being a teenager and all I've never had a good feelIng about fixing stuff myself what should I do?
Click to expand...

Just check taft the neck relief, thus near dead flat neck, and thereafter just raise your saddle slightly. Don't worry too much the new 4003 are much easier to maintain then old 4001 etc. there is a web site called Joeys Rickenbacker , everything you need to know is there! :)
 
#927
Presto2112 said:
11' 4003. I recently changed the strings from stock ric strings to rotosounds standard gauge. There has always had a dead buzz sound. Haven't adjusted anything I'm too scared I might break something hahaha this is my first ric after all. I havent tried fixing anything or adjusting anything on my othe basses either, being a teenager and all I've never had a good feelIng about fixing stuff myself what should I do?
Click to expand...

I like Rotos, but they will tear your frets to shreds and sometimes they are less than consistent in their manufacturing. I switched to Ernie Balls or Elixirs on my 4001 and have preferred them over Rotos. You may also want to consider a slightly lighter gauge string (if the bottom string on your Ric is a 105, try going down to the 95 set).

If you want to get rid of that buzz, you might want to experiment raising the bridge saddles a bit -- it's pretty easy to do and you won't hurt the guitar. Check out the Ric manual at http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/manual.pdf

As far as the neck goes, I'd definitely get it adjusted when you can afford it -- it's usually not too much. But with the Ric's dual truss rods, I make sure to take mine to someone who's set a dual truss rod before. I have a local guy who knows his RICs who does a complete setup (intonation, neck, bridge, fret leveling if needed) for $60.

The great thing about the 4003 (a lot like the 4001, at least) is that they need very little extra adjustment once it is set to your liking.
 
#928
Lighter stings will be less tension and may reduce relief further. Given where the buzz is it might persist until a setup can be performed. Raising saddles might work, but if relief is the problem the action at the upper frets might become unacceptable.

Sorry to be the wet blanket.
 
#929
heatsky said:
I like Rotos, but they will tear your frets to shreds and sometimes they are less than consistent in their manufacturing. I switched to Ernie Balls or Elixirs on my 4001 and have preferred them over Rotos. You may also want to consider a slightly lighter gauge string (if the bottom string on your Ric is a 105, try going down to the 95 set).

If you want to get rid of that buzz, you might want to experiment raising the bridge saddles a bit -- it's pretty easy to do and you won't hurt the guitar. Check out the Ric manual at http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/manual.pdf

As far as the neck goes, I'd definitely get it adjusted when you can afford it -- it's usually not too much. But with the Ric's dual truss rods, I make sure to take mine to someone who's set a dual truss rod before. I have a local guy who knows his RICs who does a complete setup (intonation, neck, bridge, fret leveling if needed) for $60.

The great thing about the 4003 (a lot like the 4001, at least) is that they need very little extra adjustment once it is set to your liking.
Click to expand...

If you like Roto's 66 and want to keep your frets happy use Roto's 66 nickel or the Roto's RB which are the same but no silk and almost half the price.
 
#930
Russ Ryan said:
Okay,

I'm back and will try to continue where I left off about Ged's signal routing.

The signal now goes from the Kittyhawk main out to the input of the Avalon D.I. The Avalon's tone setting are ON. I can't quite remember where the boost and tone levels are set. I don't have the gear in front of me and like I said before, my notes are in my toolbox in storage. I now take the 'thru' output of the Avalon and this goes to the Sansamp RPM.
By the way, the Avalon has a feature that you can turn on or off for the the thru setting. If you want to send the tone and boost settings to the thru settings, you can but I defeat that.

The Sansamp has a great feature that I use. It has a buffered, unaffected output, 1/4". This means you can take the original signal going into the Sansamp and take it out with no real line loss or coloration to the original signal.

What I mean on this is, this particular feature of the Sansamp is basically a "thru" jack but it is transformer isolated, so as to maintain original signal levels and no audio grounding problems. This is not perfect. You are splitting a signal, but it does a great job! It also bypasses the pre-amp effects, by the way, meaning all the tone and volume levels, etc.
Oh, by the way on this, the Avalon's thru jack is just that. It is not isolated to my experience and I don't have the spec's in front of me at this moment. If they claim otherwise, please talk to me. If you use the the tone button for the thru jack, well, I have never used that feature and that I can't comment about.

This is where I really like the Sansamp, and NO, I'm not getting any kick-backs for this!
The dudes at Sansamp have been thinking! I wish more vendors would do the same. Not only do they provide this unaffected buffered output, 1/4", they also provide an affected one. They also have XLR affected and non affected outputs. They also have the usual effects loop in and out's with the usual attenuation buttons. Well done boys!!!

Okay, must go, but I will continue and I want to mention a bit more about this Sansamp stuff.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Russ do you remember the settings on the sansamp and Avalon for the S&A tour? I love the growl he had on that tour. I only have a picture of his rack from the TM tour
 
#933
As I understand it, Russ had some health issues a few years back and had to get off the road. But he sure was a treasure trove in info while he was here. I changed the way I tweak my jazz bass's neck because of his words of wisdom (and it's fun to tell folks I learned it right from Geddy's old tech).
 
#934
Hey guys, what do you think?:
http://soundcloud.com/seang515/yyz-sans-geddy

I spent hours getting ready to record (and mixing, etc.) and ~10 minutes actually playing the tune itself. (I learned YYZ about, oh man, ~25 years ago, haven't really changed the way I play it since I was 17. I am not one of those "note for note" guys, you may hear.)

Hope you dig this, warts and all. (There are certainly warts.) The timing was very difficult, as the tracks aren't in perfect time, and the (recording) equipment I was using leaves a lot to be desired. (Hey, if all we own is a shack, we try to decorate the shack as best we can, eh?) :) And I truly enjoy and utilize my, uh, shack. (And not exactly decrying poverty here, there are first world issues LOL. I am also the founder of the New York Bass Works (boutique bass) Club.) I respect what I have, nuff said.

This is what I did:

-Used the "Free Youtube Downloader" app, and downloaded the isolated
tracks from YYZ from Alex and from Neil. (These are "thanks" to the
advent of Guitar Hero and such.)
-The same program above can be used to convert the video downloaded
from YT; the latest version of said app can actually transpose the MP3
right there on the play! Sweet.
-The tracks actually start at different times; I used Audacity to get
them as close to same starting point as possible. (Note: They are
still off, as you'll hear. But pretty darn close.)
-Exported as a single stereo MP3 file.
-Used my Zoom H4 and imported these into a Project (H4 is a portable
4-track recorder) as a single track.
-Recorded the bass track; what you hear was my second take. Rough, but
just having FUN FUN FUN! :) Timing stuff was tough, particularly
since the original track (that I created) has its timing off. PLUS:
Ged himself recorded (overdubbed) his solos separately from the
original track, and I can definitely tell why lol. Getting back into
time after those solos is a KILLER! (But) He's been doing it for years
(and years) live...he da man.
-Imported the two tracks into Audacity; Mixed down as a single stereo file.
-Exported as a single MP3. And sent it to you guys :)

Sorry for long explanation, found it warranted. Also, thanks for humoring me here :) If you'd kindly further said humor:

-What (bass and effect (if any) equipment do you think is used?

Thanks in advance!

Bestest,
Sean
 
#935
Playing style such as even pick versus fingers. Effects added, and even various signature things playing wise can carry over to diff basses to give them similiar sound recognition. I think Ged sounded better with the rick basses myself. But yes he does get a similair sound with his new bass to an extent. Eq'ing of the basses to make them more similiar is of course also possible and I can imagine the eq settings he uses now vary from what he used with the rick.
 
#936
darkstorm said:
Playing style such as even pick versus fingers. Effects added, and even various signature things playing wise can carry over to diff basses to give them similiar sound recognition. I think Ged sounded better with the rick basses myself. But yes he does get a similair sound with his new bass to an extent. Eq'ing of the basses to make them more similiar is of course also possible and I can imagine the eq settings he uses now vary from what he used with the rick.
Click to expand...

His Ric tone is amazing. But listening to his Jazz tone on the Live in Cleveland DVD 2011, his tone on Red Barchetta is so close to his Ric tone.
 
#937
I think I've nailed his tone..kinda. idk how it sits in a mix but I can say for sure in a weekend or two. here's what I used..

Acoustic b600h into 2 Acoustic b410's
Gain 1:00/Vol. whatever it needs to be at/Freq. 2:00/40hz 2:00/120hz 2:00/350hz 1:00/800hz 2:00/2k 1:00/5k 3:00

Squier VM jazz bass w/Model J pickups
Rotosound Swing Jazz strings
Digitech RP80
Compressor setting 2/noise gate setting 5/modulation phaser setting 1/EQ flat
Sansamp BDDI Deluxe
drive full on/bass 11:00/treble 12:00/presence full off/blend 9:30/lvl. 11:30

There's a Boss OC3 in the fx chain which i wasn't using but if you were to add it to the sound I would go for Poly mode/Octave 2 full off/Octave 1 9:00/lvl. 3:00

Sooo there you have it. Nice and detailed, hope it helps. I imagine I'll probably come back to it tomorrow and think it needs tweeking. The sound itself reminds me of Ged's Moving Pictures tone. YYZ and The Camera Eye to be specific. Of course low action and right hand technique are also required to get his tone.
 
  • Like
Reactions: etherealme
#940
Just popped in and only read first two posts, but he is a great example of how a person sounds like himself. From playing a P bass, to rickenbacker, to jazz, to a Wal and whatever else, he sounds very close. But a slight difference in tone, a nuance or timbre I guess, is a bit different. To me, in their albums pre Signals, the rick had the most treble and most growl. The P had a bit of a rounder quality, a less sharp initial attack, and the jazz was kind of a slightly warmer rick... The rick tone won in my book.
 
  • Like
Reactions: etherealme

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back