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Rickenbacker or Precision - which is it?

Rickenbacker or Precision?

  • Rickenbacker

  • Precision

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#21
Doug4321 said:
This is a great video outlining the typical sounds of classic basses:


()
Click to expand...


Check out the P bass with rounds at 4:10, it’s a more “flat” sound with the P bass high end roll off, a little squashed vs. single coil.

Then the Rick neck pickup at 6:40, more bright single coil sound plus the hollow tone of a neck hugger pickup.
 
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#25
BassyBill said:
Early days, but votes are pretty evenly split at present. Could it be the case that the collective experience of TalkBass can’t tell a P bass from a Rickenbacker? That would be strong evidence for my “Basically, all basses sound pretty similar” theory.
Click to expand...


I've played both extensively over the years and Rics and Precisions can sound very similar depending on how you play them, but saying that I think this is a Rickenbacker heavy on the neck pickup. It did take me a while to decide that though. I did an album with a Rickenbacker 4001 years ago with flatwounds through an Ampeg SVT and a 4 ohm B-15 cab and it sounded just like a P bass.
 
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#27
Panek said:
Yeah, it's a Rick, no doubt about that.
Click to expand...

Even 'though there's no photos from that era of Glenn playing the Ric on stage? The sleeve pics are a mix from early "Burn" tour, for example the front cover:
MC01ODIzLmpwZWc.jpeg


The proof: No clavinet on top of Lord's Hammond C3 which he had and used on "Stormbringer" tour and on those gigs the album was compiled from.
The back cover has also various shots from various timeline, for example the Ian Paice photo is from Mark IV era and the original label had a Mark IV line-up photo with Tommy Bolin instead of Blackmore.
The Coverdale's photo is about the most correct in the back cover:
MS02MjcwLmpwZWc.jpeg


Here's an isolated track from "Come Taste The Band". Glenn on P-bass again. That sound again.
 
#28
I play a precision and don't think it's a precision, it's a Rick. Typical Rickenbacker wooly mids/low mids. The sound of a Rick is between Hofner and a Precision i would say. In some parts of the clips it sounds similar to a precision, but a Ric can sound similar too a precision. It sounds like a tube amp was used.

Ric played on the neck pickup (time stap added in the link):



Interesting note, a ric sounds quite wooly when you play it with both pickups on at the bridge ((time stap added in the link):



I'm not a Ric expert, but it's played with a pick with both pickups or neck pickup played near neck. Or maybe both.
 
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#29
PhR75 said:
Even 'though there's no photos from that era of Glenn playing the Ric on stage? The sleeve pics are a mix from early "Burn" tour, for example the front cover:
MC01ODIzLmpwZWc.jpeg


The proof: No clavinet on top of Lord's Hammond C3 which he had and used on "Stormbringer" tour and on those gigs the album was compiled from.
The back cover has also various shots from various timeline, for example the Ian Paice photo is from Mark IV era and the original label had a Mark IV line-up photo with Tommy Bolin instead of Blackmore.
The Coverdale's photo is about the most correct in the back cover:
MS02MjcwLmpwZWc.jpeg


Here's an isolated track from "Come Taste The Band". Glenn on P-bass again. That sound again.
Click to expand...


Yeah, still a Rick to my ears. That last clip you posted sounds like it's fatter and has less of that aggressive Rick grind.
 
#35
These are the facts:
The album in question from where the rather murky bass isolation tracks were taken was compiled from three gigs in April 1975:
4 April 1975 in Graz, Austria,
5 April 1975 in Saarbrücken, Germany and
7 April 1975 in Paris, France

I haven't seen a single photo from any of those gigs where Glenn can be seen playing any other bass than his natural Fender Precision with a white pickguard. The album sleeve doesn't tell the truth, neither does the front sleeve of "Live In Graz" which again has the pic from wrong era (you guessed it, from early "Burn" tour).

Have anyone listened to "Live In Graz 1975" and does the bass sound on it so different than on "Made In Europe"?


Glenn in Graz, 1975
Deep_Purple_Graz1975_pic8.jpg
 
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#36
PhR75 said:
These are the facts:
The album in question from where the rather murky bass isolation tracks were taken was compiled from three gigs in April 1975:
4 April 1975 in Graz, Austria,
5 April 1975 in Saarbrücken, Germany and
7 April 1975 in Paris, France

I haven't seen a single photo from any of those gigs where Glenn can be seen playing any other bass than his natural Fender Precision with a white pickguard. The album sleeve doesn't tell the truth, neither does the front sleeve of "Live In Graz" which again has the pic from wrong era (you guessed it, from early "Burn" tour).

Have anyone listened to "Live In Graz 1975" and does the bass sound on it so different than on "Made In Europe"?


Glenn in Graz, 1975
Click to expand...


Sounds like a Ric, listen at the parts after that solo.. @13:30 The wooly sound.
 
#37
Ögon said:
Sounds like a Ric, listen at the parts after that solo.. @13:30 The wooly sound.
Click to expand...

Even 'though he plays a Precision in that pic taken from that very same gig in Graz 1975.
See these photos:
Deep Purple Graz 1975 Photo Gallery

It's (apart from Hughes' playing style of course) the Hiwatt amps and especially the Martin folded horn bass bins that give that distinctive sound. If the album sleeve had the correct period photos nobody would question the bass being any other than the Precision.

 

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