nbacker toaster or small humbycker at the neck.Stu Cook's P bass at Royal Albert Hall

Discussion in 'Basses [BG]' started by mccartneyman, Sep 20, 2022.

  1. I watched the Netflix documentary about the Creedence Clearwater Revival concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970. I was intrigued by Stu Cook's P bass. It had spilt-P pickups at the bridge and center positions and what appeared to be a Rickenbacker toaster or small humbucker at the neck.Anyone have any info?

    Also, he was using what appeared to be 3 Sunn 215 cabs, but I couldn't see a head. There were, however, 2 Kustom 215 cabs with 200 heads sitting behind Stu and Tom Fogerty, so he may have been using one of them. I assume Tom was using one set. John Fogerty used the same Kustom 200 head and 215 JBL can he uses today, with a spare 200 head on top. John played his harmonica through a mic plugged into the second channel on his lead head. There were two Kustom 3`5 cabs and two heads to John's left. They weren't pointing at him.

    Appeared to be only side wash monitors. They carried their own PA. Doug Clifford had a small cabinet behind him, I assume as a monitor.

    Very little talk between songs, and the band didn't do an encore although the crowd gave them a 15-minute ovation.
     
  2. 4SG

    4SG

    Mar 6, 2014
    Heavily modified 1968 Precision:
    486.jpg
    From Rock Stars Guitars: "Pictured here is Stu with his 1968 Fender Precision bass. This was Stu’s main CCR bass on LPs 3 thru 7, (Willy and the Poor Boys, Cosmo’s Factory, Pendulum, Mardi Gras and Live in Europe). Stu used this bass in concert from 1969-1972. It was used at Woodstock, Atlanta Pop Festival, two tours of Europe, one tour of Australia and Japan, two times on the Ed Sullivan Show, The Johnny Cash Show, The Dionne Warwick Special, several appearances on the Dick Clark show, and on numerous other appearances."

    Can't see from the pic exactly what the neck pickup is. Looks kinda Gretsch-like but I can't tell.
     
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  3. HaphAsSard

    HaphAsSard

    Dec 1, 2013
    Italia
    Yep. Rickenbacker:

    In the early years of the band, Stu played piano, but due to the scarcity of decent instruments, he started to play "bass rhythm guitar". "I just played the bottom four strings, playing the root - 5 feel." By default, Stu became the bass player in 1965. "The first instrument I played was a P-Bass, but I believe we rented it. The first bass I remember owning was a Rickenbacher 4001 which I still have. I played that through Creedence's second album. Then I went to a Jazz Bass for a while, a Gibson EB-3, then back to a P-Bass. I took the bass pickup off the Rick and put it on the P-Bass up at the neck, I like that really deep tone. I like to feel it more, the overall tone is more important than being able to actually hear each note precisely. I think the bass should fill a space as well as play a particular note."
    Stu Cook Bass Player Interview
     
  4. Oatis

    Oatis

    Nov 6, 2018
    Alabama
    Stu used a big Kustom head. I believe it was a 400 or bigger, with two power amps. These heads were too wide for a 215 cabinet. They had a chrome stand .
     
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  6. Thanks so much! So I was right about the Rickenbacker neck pickup!
     
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  7. Just watched it last night and came here to ask the same question about the neck pickup, and here is the answer for me.

    I had a hunch it was a Rick pick up, as I was aware he used a 4001 for a period of time.

    I noticed that at the RAH show he also had big piece of foam by the bridge.
     
  8. Yep, foam and probably flatwounds.
     
  9. Michedelic

    Michedelic MId-Century Modern

    I had a bootleg DVD of that years ago. Those were Kustom PA heads, yes, very wide and probably the highest wattage ones they put out. But those model numbers denote ‘peak wattage’, so cut them in half.
     
  10. I had the original Kustom 200 head & 215 cab with JBLs when they came out in 1967. Good for the time. I then went to Standell and, finally an Acoustic 360. Now I'm using Phil Jones Bass. Sounds great with any bass.
     
  11. jsaxe

    jsaxe

    Dec 29, 2010
    Upstate New York
    I just finished watching that. They were my contemporaries, and I was into them back in the day, but moved on. So I'm kinda re-connecting. Stu is definitely my kind of bass player - Ya got one job, boy... Get with that drummer and gooooove. Tasty, clean playing and great tone.
     
    BillyB_from_LZ likes this.