rickenbacker sound

Single coils in an all maple body that is neck-thru. Pretty unique combo. That being said, I can get pretty close with an old Peavey T-40 with totally different constuction.

 

High output SC pickups and the hard maple give it the gritty tone. The pole shape is unique and may have a magnetic field shape as well.

 

If I try hard enough, I can get a respectable Chris Squire-esque tone out of my NS-JH5 with a Villex pickup. But I have to do crazy things to my EQ, so I doubt I'll ever use that sound live.

 

In a word, no.

Nothing comes close to a Rick, exact maybe the imitation basses that only LOOK like them (these were released in the 70s but sued into oblivion).

Like mentioned above, Ricks are all maple (neck-thru) with really high-output singlecoil pickups in interesting places.

I guess you can have a bass like that built and gets a pair of really hot pickups and place them in a similar Rick fashion... also, the neck is 33'' scale, or something to that effect.

 

The "lawsuit" Ric copies from the '70s probably do.

On a budget, a Charvel Model 3B is a P shaped neck-through instrument that you could install Ric pickups on.

However, if you can find a way to afford the cost of getting a real Ric from the start, you'd probably be better off as it will certainly retain its value.

 

Oddly enough, Lots of USA Spectors are neck-thru, maple bodied but the pups are so different that they don't sound much alike to me.

 

I don't believe ANY rics basses are active.

 

AFAIK they're all passive.

The tone comes from a unique construction and awesome pickups. Even putting Ric pickups in another beast won't give you the same sound.

Which explains why I'm GASsin really bad for a Ric right now.

 

Volume and tone for each pup.

 

The Stereo option even lets you send each pup's output to a different amp.

 

The first Fender Jazz basses (like the current '62 RI) had concentric (stacked) volume and tone controls for each pickup...so Ric isn't the only one.

 

One of my Bass heroes, Billy Gould, played a Gibson Ripper on the album "We Care a Lot" by Faith No More - he also played it on the Album "Introduce Yourself".

Check out "We Care a Lot" sometime..particularly the songs "Why Do You Bother" and "New Beginnings"..

..I own a Ric, and it's pretty damn hard to tell the difference.

Gibson Ripper - an all maple body and a passive pickup, with a maple board makes for an aggressive sound.

 

I think you should just save for a Ric. Buy second hand, that way you will almost always get back about what you paid, if not more, and you will save a lot of money from buying new.

 

The lacquered Padauk fretboard has a lot to do with the Ric tone. And the zinc tailpiece.

 

I'm not so sure about that. Sometimes used Rics sell for more than their new price. Rickenbacker's production is slow. Most dealers have backorders and have trouble keeping Rics in stock, which keeps the value high on used Rics...