Does the guitar amp have any tone controls?? Just turn the bass knob all the way down on the guitar amp, and dont crank it too loud... 
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Rick-o-sound question
- Thread starter Vitamin Beer
- Start date
Ric-O-Sound....
I used it for years....I would use two SVT rigs... and split the signal...
I would use the ported V4B cab for the deep bass head....
I have a show this weekend and maybe I will break out the rig.....my back will be hurting the next day....LOL
I used it for years....I would use two SVT rigs... and split the signal...
I would use the ported V4B cab for the deep bass head....
I have a show this weekend and maybe I will break out the rig.....my back will be hurting the next day....LOL
My friend has a 79 Ric. He took Ric-O-Sound a step further via bypassing all controls and running each pickup directly to it's own jack. Then two cables came out of the bass and went to a stereo pan/volume pedal and on to dedicated effects chains for each pickup. The bridge PU got some distortion, the neck PU some comp. Used two GK amps with 2x10" cabs stacked on top of each other.
It's pretty killer. Sounds great!
It's pretty killer. Sounds great!
Maybe the difference is expectations. I don't really consider it an effect just a way of processing each pickup separately to optimize the sound. I ran Ric-O-Sound for about a year than my rig evolved into a biamp monstrosity. I was looking for something resembling full range flat response.
I think Ric-O-Sound would provide unique tonal possibilities if I were more into driven tones. For example, I think running the bridge pickup through an OD or distortion pedal and running the neck pickup clean would work really well...separate amps and speakers for each of course.
Does the guitar amp have any tone controls?? Just turn the bass knob all the way down on the guitar amp, and dont crank it too loud...
I liked Ric-O-Sound because I could get the clarity and punch of the bridge pickup and fat low end of the neck pickup. IMHO the bridge pickup needs strong low mids to integrate well with the neck pickup. In my experience, cutting the bass on the guitar amp may gut the sound of the bridge pickup so much that the blended sound of both pickups/speakers is fairly mid-scooped with loose woolly lows and lots of clank and fret rattle.
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This may be slightly off-post, but I heard Chris Squire and Yes in concert a few months before he died. Over many years, Chris' setup makes maximum use of Rick-O-Sound and he had several amps with a truckload of speakers. His sound was awesome!
I've been playing Rics for 40 years and have only tried Rick-O-Sound once. In short, I think it could be great - if you could put together a Chris Squire-type rig that has normal bass cabs, subwoofers and either guitar cabs or full-range speakers that will bring out all the tonal nuances of the bass. However, most people don't have the means to put together a rig like that or have the inclination to haul all that gear around.
I've been playing Rics for 40 years and have only tried Rick-O-Sound once. In short, I think it could be great - if you could put together a Chris Squire-type rig that has normal bass cabs, subwoofers and either guitar cabs or full-range speakers that will bring out all the tonal nuances of the bass. However, most people don't have the means to put together a rig like that or have the inclination to haul all that gear around.
Ive only used my ROS at a couple of gigs and IMO it sounded great! I used two different amps and two cabs. Ive also messed around with running it into my Boss LS-2 pedal so I could put some effects on one pu and then blend them together into one amp. Worked well too. But, since I play small to medium sized gigs, I generally dont bother lugging all that gear with me. If I was playing larger shows, I would use ROS every time.
LOL that’s why I didn’t look it up!!
The name did seem familiar. Back in the day I would visit the bruce Peninsular to do work at the Bruce Nuclear Generating stations. Maybe I passed through the town.
On a modern 4003 you can pull up the tone pot for the bridge pickup to add that capacitor in-line, leave the pot pushed in to not have the capacitor active.
BassmanPaul. If you worked at the Bruce Nuclear and drove up from T.O. you most likely drove through Mildmay.
Just a small town in the middle of nowhere. It's really not important.
But I'm still confused.
Can I play the treble pick up with the vintage tone knob up into a guitar combo amp at loud volumes? Because at a low volume it sounds awesome with effects on the bridge pickup and clean tone on the neck pick up.
I don't know much about much but was told along time a go that guitars get plugged in to guitar amps and basses get plugged into bass amps.
And I want to play loud.
Just a small town in the middle of nowhere. It's really not important.
But I'm still confused.
Can I play the treble pick up with the vintage tone knob up into a guitar combo amp at loud volumes? Because at a low volume it sounds awesome with effects on the bridge pickup and clean tone on the neck pick up.
I don't know much about much but was told along time a go that guitars get plugged in to guitar amps and basses get plugged into bass amps.
And I want to play loud.
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@BassmanPaul please see post above from @Vitamin Beer
I read that for decades Chris’s bass had only one working pickup and that Rickenbacker fixed this as well as other problems with his bass maybe 10 years ago. I’m not so sure all of the ROS stories about that bass are necessarily accurate.
With my Ric back in the day with my Kustom 200 I found ROS invaluable because I had two channels on the amp and I could set up the EQ on the normal channel for a clean low bass sound and on the bright channel for lots of bite and also my effects there and get different sounds just picking which pickup or both. Sorry @beans-on-toast i would never disagree with you except for me ROS was eminently useful every day.
I believe that you meant another user.
I’ve never said that ROS is not useful. I sometimes use two outputs with my 4003 when recording.
I can understand that ROS got you a good bit more tonal flexibility. Chris Squire was using a 100 watt Marshall with 2 x 412s, a couple of SVT tops with 16 x 8s and a couple of SWR 18s pushed by a separate power amp. When you have that much power, that huge number of speakers with wide range response, it’s got to deliver a powerful sound. That’s where ROS really starts to shine
I have an old Marshall Club & Country bass combo (100Watt tube amp / 4x10 open back cab), that was designed to make use of Ric-O-Sound.
It has a normal channel, a bright channel, and a dedicated stereo input.
Ironically, for about the last 25 years, I've been using the bridge pickup only - the neck pickup turned all the way down, and using the toggle as a mute switch (really handy between songs, at high gain / distortion etc, and for occasional terminating).
This thread is really making me want to break that rig out again, and let it rip in ster-e-er-eo.
Of course, I recently noticed that the neck pickup is dead (no idea how long it's been like that, or why), so that's scuppered my plans
It has a normal channel, a bright channel, and a dedicated stereo input.
Ironically, for about the last 25 years, I've been using the bridge pickup only - the neck pickup turned all the way down, and using the toggle as a mute switch (really handy between songs, at high gain / distortion etc, and for occasional terminating).
This thread is really making me want to break that rig out again, and let it rip in ster-e-er-eo.
Of course, I recently noticed that the neck pickup is dead (no idea how long it's been like that, or why), so that's scuppered my plans
