Has to be a Precision. Every song in recorded history is a P because producers don’t allow Rics or J basses or MMs.
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Rickenbacker or Precision - which is it?
- Thread starter BassyBill
- Start date
Glenn hated the Ric and only played it at Blackmore's insistence. As soon as Blackmore completely gave up caring about Purple and was effectively out the door Hughes picked up the Precision again. He's confirmed this in many interviews. The Ric was used for the recording of Burn and for some of the tour to support it. As a matter of fact, Hughes gave/lent/sold the Ric to Geezer Butler for the Never Say Die tour, and Hughes has tried to get it back but Geezer won't give it up. He hates it too but he loves pissing of Hughes about it. It's a game. Geezer has stated he only used it for one show, the filmed Never Say Die Show. I'll take Hughes' word for it, it's the Precision in the clip.
“That hollow sound” you’re describing is the result of lower amplitude first harmonics caused by plucking a string relatively closer to halfway along its vibrating length ; say, over the twelfth fret for an open string or over the nineteenth fret for a string fretted at the seventh. In both of these examples, there’ll be pretty much no first harmonic in the overtones at all. In more general terms, pluck away from the bridge and nearer the neck = less first harmonic / hollowed out, “tubey” tone. Likewise for the neck pickup compared to bridge.
Yes, but as you say it does depend on the note you're playing, I don't play near the neck, well very rarely, I like a crisp articulate sound plus I like more resistance to my plucking or picking, I like a lot of first harmonic in my tone. I only called it a 'hollow' sound because the person I responded to it called it that. I just generally say that the closer to the neck you play the deeper the sound. I did not like the sound on this recording unless they left some when they isolated the bass and drums from the rest and it probably sounds better with the rest of the band.
Interesting info, thanks. But your last sentence is not in agreement with the earlier bit in your post, where you say he was using the Ric for “some of the tour” during which these recordings were made. That tour was the “Made In Europe” tour. So a Ric could be in use on some or all of the tracks on the album, just going by what you’ve stated here.
In other words, your post is relevant and fascinating, but doesn’t definitively identify the bass heard on “Made In Europe”. Thanks for sharing that info, though.
By the way, the switch back to P bass came BEFORE Blackmore left the band, according to evidence of the California Jam video. So, that confuses things further. Not surprising, I suppose. I think it’s likely thatthe whole band including Hughes were out of their minds for much of the time. One look at California Jam tends to confirm that LMAO
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The Ric was used for recording Burn and some of the early shows of the Burn tour. Made In Europe was the Stormbringer tour. My chronology is correct.
This is it for me. Especially within in the mix. Nobody cares, it doesn't matter, tone is in technique, play what you like.
Thanks for that. I was thinking that Made In Europe was recorded on the Burn tour.
Just for further interest. The most obvious thing about this clip is the abominably poor tuning!
Yes… my point is the hollow sound could be due to the Rick’s neck hugger pickup, or maybe just picking close to the neck on either bass.
PhR75 sounds pretty convincing, actual info suggesting the P, vs. most of us just hearing a Rickenbacker like sound.
Now, that’s pretty cool. The similarity is WAAAAAY more apparent than the minor differences. It just goes to show, most of your tone comes from technique, strings and signal path rather than pickups or tone woods. Thanks for that.
This has just made me realise how silly it sounded when I watched an interview with a very well known Canadian bassist, whose playing I admire greatly, saying he thought there was a difference in tone between pearl and black blocks on a maple fretboard.
Yes, indeed, Sir. Thanks very much for checking it out. That clip is from way back in 2006. Since then, I’ve had to retire due to health reasons (stroke).
The way a person plays a bass has a big bearing on its sound, I used to be able to get a Chris Squire-like sound out of a P bass with Rotosounds playing right next to the bridge. I could go either way, and I thought this was kind of a fun thing, at least at first.
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Now, that’s pretty cool. The similarity is WAAAAAY more apparent than the minor differences. It just goes to show, most of your tone comes from technique, strings and signal path rather than pickups or tone woods. Thanks for that.
This has just made me realise how silly it sounded when I watched an interview with a very well known Canadian bassist, whose playing I admire greatly, saying he thought there was a difference in tone between pearl and black blocks on a maple fretboard.
Yes, P basses can sound very similar to Rics although of course it depends on a lot of things but videos like that just show how the basses sound in that certain person's hands. I could do a blindfold video with a P and a Ric and I bet most people would get it wrong (if I tried to fool them). Distortion masks a bass's natural sound too.
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I owned and recorded with both a Ric and P several years back. Ultimately, I kept the P and returned the Ric because their sound was so similar to each other (when going for a grindy rock tone) but the P had no buzz and was way more comfortable.
I would like to know how i would get this sound with my precision. I just tried this out with my own precision, worn in rounds with pick (multiple picks with different thicknesses) near the neck and even above the frets. It's not the same timbre as the isolated bass tracks. I am hearing more mids then the recording. Although, i probably do not have the exact same strings of course. Can tube amps add this more scooped sound?
Inlays? Haha... well.. even if it was true, it would probably get lost in a mix. For example: The difference between a maple and rosewood fretboard is actually quite small too in a mix.. almost impossible to hear.Now, that’s pretty cool. The similarity is WAAAAAY more apparent than the minor differences. It just goes to show, most of your tone comes from technique, strings and signal path rather than pickups or tone woods. Thanks for that.
This has just made me realise how silly it sounded when I watched an interview with a very well known Canadian bassist, whose playing I admire greatly, saying he thought there was a difference in tone between pearl and black blocks on a maple fretboard.
So, what do you think after listening to it in this video? Ric or Precision?
True. It sounds like the bass amp that was used in the isolated track, was set quite loud. The subs/low mids are fuzzing/farting.
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