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that elusive rickenbacker growl
- Thread starter azwhofan
- Start date
i come surprisingly close to his tone with a cheap J bass and a sansamp...let the flames begin...
Actually, the J-bass (and its cousins) are able to pull off a rather convincing Ric immitation. I can do a spot-on CS sound with my Jaguar (with stainless steel strings) and the Traynor Bassmaster. Like I said before, the only thing lacking is the Fender Amp Tremolo...
Check the pickups.
Rotosounds and an Ampeg amp should do the trick no matter what. Squire runs stereo with at least one channel through distortion too. I have had to tweak the knobs a bit on my Ampeg SVT 2x10 combo to get the growl just right.
I've also achieved the growl with my Ibanez. Alot of it comes from bright strings and maple through-neck. The Stingray and Geddy J Bass can get growly too.
Hope this helps.
Rotosounds and an Ampeg amp should do the trick no matter what. Squire runs stereo with at least one channel through distortion too. I have had to tweak the knobs a bit on my Ampeg SVT 2x10 combo to get the growl just right.
I've also achieved the growl with my Ibanez. Alot of it comes from bright strings and maple through-neck. The Stingray and Geddy J Bass can get growly too.
Hope this helps.
The secret to a good growly Ric...
DR Highbeams or Rotosound Swingbass 66. Capacitor in on the horseshoe set to about three quarter volume and full tone. Toaster at full bore. Play behind the horseshoe with a heavy guitar pick for Roundabout. Play over the toaster for Heart of the Sunrise.
Drive the preamp stage of your Eden Navigator hard with a little bit of 1000K mid boost. I use D112XLTs with my setup. A Mesa, Ampeg or Eden 6 or 8 ten cab does the trick better.
The secret of a good growly Ric is not the bridge pup, it's how you play over the neck pup. Straight MIA P, PJ and J basses get close but their neck pups are to far south. It's the combination of sizzzz of a cap'd bridge high gain and boom of the neck that makes the Ric sound. Chris's older 7.4 K ohm toaster is soft and deep. The modern 11k toaster has more bark and the new high gains are killer.
Though I've been one of Chris Squire's biggest fans over the many years, I prefer growl that Dave Meros of Spocks Beard gets on his 4001 with high-gains. He's a big Eden endorser, BTW. I swear his sound on End of the Day could cure cancer. The other neat thing about his modded Ric is he has J pups in their correct positions in addition to the Rick high gains. He switches from Ric to Jazz, pick to fingerstyle and its Squire to Jaco. He's amazing.
My new 4003 has the same 11K ohm toaster as your V63. I can pull off a Meros or Squire "like" Ric sound even though I'm strung with DR Lowbeams. It's in the hands, the pick and the "neck".
DR Highbeams or Rotosound Swingbass 66. Capacitor in on the horseshoe set to about three quarter volume and full tone. Toaster at full bore. Play behind the horseshoe with a heavy guitar pick for Roundabout. Play over the toaster for Heart of the Sunrise.
Drive the preamp stage of your Eden Navigator hard with a little bit of 1000K mid boost. I use D112XLTs with my setup. A Mesa, Ampeg or Eden 6 or 8 ten cab does the trick better.
The secret of a good growly Ric is not the bridge pup, it's how you play over the neck pup. Straight MIA P, PJ and J basses get close but their neck pups are to far south. It's the combination of sizzzz of a cap'd bridge high gain and boom of the neck that makes the Ric sound. Chris's older 7.4 K ohm toaster is soft and deep. The modern 11k toaster has more bark and the new high gains are killer.
Though I've been one of Chris Squire's biggest fans over the many years, I prefer growl that Dave Meros of Spocks Beard gets on his 4001 with high-gains. He's a big Eden endorser, BTW. I swear his sound on End of the Day could cure cancer. The other neat thing about his modded Ric is he has J pups in their correct positions in addition to the Rick high gains. He switches from Ric to Jazz, pick to fingerstyle and its Squire to Jaco. He's amazing.
My new 4003 has the same 11K ohm toaster as your V63. I can pull off a Meros or Squire "like" Ric sound even though I'm strung with DR Lowbeams. It's in the hands, the pick and the "neck".
As many others have noted, you aren't really doing anything wrong other than expecting to sound like someone else. Also, as Hoover noted, Squire's first Rickenbacker was refinished several times and, according to an interview with him, was thinner and lighter than a typical Rick. Export versions in the day were slightly different from U.S. models, but I doubt if tone would be significantly different.
Also consider that Squier was playing through old-school equipment and recorded on old-school machines. Unless you go all-vintage, it will be hard to emulate the sound. You might find playing through sub-standard equipment will get some growl when pushed.
That said, I would first recommend getting a stereo output jack and rewiring the pickups to separate channels. A stereo-to-mono cable or switch is advisable for convenience. Bi-amping the pickups nearly doubles the range of sound adjustments. If you overdrive the bridge pickup and run the neck pickup clean, for example, you might get something similar to what you seek.
I doubt if piezo pickups will get you what you are looking for, and they might ruin a perfectly good bass. Play around with right hand technique and amplification before messing with the bass.
My 2¢
d
There is a post by John Hall in the Rick forum that says that when they took CS's Ric in for service, the bridge pup didn't work and no one knows how long it's been like that.
So, neck pup?
So, neck pup?
I had a 74 Ric 4001 yeays ago, it was a great Bass. I was looking for The CS sound as well. I wasn't really getting it at first but I was getting Geddy's sound. I had to work on the CS sound and I felt like I got pretty close eventually. I think he has a great playing style that is like know one else. You really have to work at it.
