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Low cost basses with Ric tone

D

DavidEdenAria

Dec 13, 2013
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On a Hill
#1
For now I use a 1985 Peavey Foundation (think J bass on steroids) to mimic Ric tone and these are easily bought for $200.

Is there a bass that is closer to Ric tone (than this bass) for say $200 to $300?

I know very little about playing actual Ric basses, I just know their tone on records for the most part and I can dial in fairly close to Ric tone with my Eden Metro and the Foundation, especially the bridge pickup....which is noisy btw.

Lighter weight basses are even better in my case!
 
#2
It's going to be hard to get close to Ric tone without neck-through maple construction and pickups designed like theirs. Neck throughs are not uncommon, but are rarely found inexpensively, and not too many manufacturers (legally) make pickups like Rickenbacker does - some custom pickup makers do, but again, not for cheap. Maybe there are some cheaper basses out there that people have discovered that get close - I don't know of any other than the "Rickenfaker" copies - you might try to find one of those, they sometimes come up on eBay, but still, hard to find a decent one in that price range, unless you get lucky.

Maybe I'm just picky, but Ric tone is really fairly unique. Maybe some eq tricks would help get close, I never had much luck with that.
 
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#4
I think the Ric tone is mostly the maple. I replaced the bridge location soapbar-type pickup with a Duncan humbucker on a '76 mapleglo years ago, and that chirp tone was still there. Completely different pickup.

My advice is to at least find an all maple bass to start your search with.
 
#6
hdracer said:
T-40 can get real close.
Click to expand...

Huh, I have and love both, wouldn't have said that. Now I'll have to do a side-by-side A:B comparison. Oh, bother! :) (Sounds like a nice way to waste a snowy evening.)

I do really like the weird "break point" in the T-40's tone circuit - back when I gigged, certain songs, I loved setting that "just on the edge" where the tone is kind of switching from more single coil to more humbucking-like. "Spank" tone, kinda, great for doing "Poison Ivy" for example. What a blast.
 
#10
Jazz Ad said:
But not on the forearm.
Click to expand...

Hey, there you are! I guess this is the place these days? :wave: And yeah, true enough. I just always felt like I had a huge dent in my shoulder gigging the T-40, even with a 4" padded leather strap. What a beast.
 
#11
Folks, I have a 70's Japan P bass but it is maple center body with ash wings, but it is
all solid wood on the body with no pickguard...only the route for the P style pickup.

As I don't particularly need another P bass sound and this bass is way different body wood than P bass with its maple center, could this bass get closer to Ric sound with the right pickup in the P pickup position?

I don't need a Ric sound very often and no desire to pay $1000 for a Ric right now.
 
#12
DavidEdenAria said:
Folks, I have a 70's Japan P bass but it is maple center body with ash wings, but it is
all solid wood on the body with no pickguard...only the route for the P style pickup.

As I don't particularly need another P bass sound and this bass is way different body wood than P bass with its maple center, could this bass get closer to Ric sound with the right pickup in the P pickup position?

I don't need a Ric sound very often and no desire to pay $1000 for a Ric right now.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, maybe, with the maple but I don't think you're going to find many pickups fitting a P route giving a ric sound. And a good part of that sound is the bridge pickup, don't forget. But if your willing to change / add routes, might have a good shot (just guessing). The neck's maple as well, I take it?
 
#13
bholder said:
Hmmm, maybe, with the maple but I don't think you're going to find many pickups fitting a P route giving a ric sound. And a good part of that sound is the bridge pickup, don't forget. But if your willing to change / add routes, might have a good shot (just guessing). The neck's maple as well, I take it?
Click to expand...
Maple neck w rosewood board....the thing is this bass may never sound like a good P bass with the maple center block...actually it has walnut strips then the ash wings.

I have no issue routing this bass for something different.

That said, I have had bass players in the past tell me they like the Ric neck pickup best and rarely use the bridge pickup....is this bogus info?
 
#14
DavidEdenAria said:
Maple neck w rosewood board....the thing is this bass may never sound like a good P bass with the maple center block...actually it has walnut strips then the ash wings.

I have no issue routing this bass for something different.

That said, I have had bass players in the past tell me they like the Ric neck pickup best and rarely use the bridge pickup....is this bogus info?
Click to expand...

I dunno, it could be I'm just weird, I use both. You know, you can sometimes find T-40 pickups on eBay and such - not sure how close that'd get, but sounds like it'd make a good sounding bass! Definitely not like your other Ps. Hmm, slap a "PT40" decal on the headstock? :)

There are occasionally real Ric pickups out there too, which would do it, but hard to find cheap.
 
#15
Got me wondering now - I have a body that'd fit some Dark Stars, but not sure I want to spend that kind of money just now - a set of T40s would fit in there nicely too.
 
#16
bholder said:
I dunno, it could be I'm just weird, I use both. You know, you can sometimes find T-40 pickups on eBay and such - not sure how close that'd get, but sounds like it'd make a good sounding bass! Definitely not like your other Ps. Hmm, slap "PT40" on the headstock? :)
Click to expand...
I may contact Duncan and see what they say about this particular tone recipe I have with this maple/ash P bass....problem with the T40 is its a larger pickup so it would require a big route but T40 do sound very cool.
 
#18
OldDirtyBassist said:
I think the Ric tone is mostly the maple. I replaced the bridge location soapbar-type pickup with a Duncan humbucker on a '76 mapleglo years ago, and that chirp tone was still there. Completely different pickup.

My advice is to at least find an all maple bass to start your search with.
Click to expand...
I know about the all maple tone recipe....my early 80's Charvel guitar is all maple....entirely....no matter what pickups I have tried it sounds much the same with extremely tight sounding bass on the low E...not a warm sound either!
 
#19
DavidEdenAria said:
What are the Dark Stars?
Click to expand...

They're remakes of some famous funky old pickups used on some great Guilds and Hagstroms in the 60's - Jack Casady and Phil Lesh both played basses & recorded & performed with them, I think. There've been a couple of remakes since, Curtis Novak currently offers them with a coil tap option to switch between 2 different versions, even. They have a special kind of sound for sure, distinctive as a Ric in a way, but very very different. There are a bunch of demo videos on youtube I've been checking out. I'd love to build a bass around a set. Already spent too much recently and too many projects half started, though.
 
#20
DavidEdenAria said:
I know about the all maple tone recipe....my early 80's Charvel guitar is all maple....entirely....no matter what pickups I have tried it sounds much the same with extremely tight sounding bass on the low E...not a warm sound either!
Click to expand...

On the other hand, an all maple RD Artist sounds nothing like a Ric. I think he's pretty good with the maple neck and body center. Hard to predict exactly how projects will come out...
 

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