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The "Ric Sound"?

#141
superdick2112 said:
Joshua, I have to disagree with you on this point. With the Hipshot bridge on my 4003, I have the action set lower than was possible with the factory bridge at it's lowest setting. Yes, the saddles were wobbling, but that can be fixed with a few simple adjustments. I figured out a way to cock the saddles slightly to the side to eliminate the wobble while still keeping the action very low.
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It's okay to disagree. I stand by my statement though--I have tried and tried with these bridges and not been able to keep them from wobbling at low action without using washers to paralyze the saddles.

I also just discovered that I like a slightly wider string spacing than the maximum possible on a Hipshot. This means cutting them "offset" on a stock bridge.
 
#143
i just noticed it when i was tuning with harmonics i heard a pop, they lifted slightly and i do play rather hard. They don't wobble back and forth per say. I am also drop tuned so not as much downward tension on the saddle as with standard tuning. It will just need some more work. i just got my new set of Circle K strings and as soon as the acclimate ill be putting those on and doing another more proper set up. And as for the bridge pull up lets just all agree that you win some, you lose some either way its still an awesome bass!
 
#144
Fender32 said:
I thought that he was mainly a Marshall guy, but in this clip he is using a MusicMan stack :hmm: ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QQWTe12j6k&feature=BF&playnext=1&list=QL

I think you can easily see where his tone comes from though ;) - he strums the strings really hard with his pick, right over the neck pickup.

Bruce Foxton of The Jam plays in a very similar way and has a very similar tone - whether playing on his Ric, or his '70s P Bass :eyebrow: ...

Ric clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ipGhzrIi3s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuxjT2-e8lg

That second clip is just great, IMO. I wish I could play like that and sing backing vox at the same time :smug:.




:D I think that I've just contradicted you with what I wrote above, CG. Sorry!
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Awesome clips, that is ric tone for me :bassist::bassist:
 
#146
I hear a lot of people complain about the saddles on Rics being impossible to adjust but I just bought one of these and now adjustments are a breeze.
 

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#147
MrBasseyPants said:
I am building a "custom" Rickenbacker using an Ibanez ATK 300 body and some vintage pickups I have. In-scale, the neck pickup will be about an inch closer to the bridge and the bridge pickup will be about 3/4 inch closer to the bridge.....how do you think this will affect the tone versus a stock Rick? Obviously, the body and neck are completely different, but assuming just pickup placement....what do you think the change in sound will be like?
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If you mean 3/4 inch closer to the bridge than the now-standard 1-inch from the fretboard spacing, then the neck pickup will not sound as deep. Worse, the treble pickup will not growl. It will thin out, even without the inline capacitor. It will sound like a bridge position J pickup with no character.

Also, Rick pickups only have about a 1 15/16 inch polepiece spacing. If you use the standard Fender-spaced ATK bridge, you will lose your G & E strings off the edge of the treble pickup. So you will need a bridge with a narrower spacing that instead of 2 1/4 inch Fender spacing approaches 2 inch Rick spacing.

Finally, it will not sound like a Rick. It will sound like an ATK with more emphasis to either the bottom (neck pickup) or top (bridge pickup). I have an HB-1 in my custom P-style bass in the same relative position as the D-G half of a P-pickup. It has had the neck heel narrowed and the bridge saddles narrowed as set forth above. Does it sound like a Rick? No, it sounds like a P-bass with just a tad more growl.
 
#154
I played a couple of hours of rehearsal last night with my '76 4001. I haven't really played it in about 18 years. The pickups died in '92 (about 3 years after I bought it)...so it sat in the case. I got some RI toaster and horseshoe pickups in '02 to replace the pickups...and then it sat in a stand until last year. I replaced the badass I bridge with a hipshot and put a modern 4003 push-pull wiring harness in it....it then sat on a wall hanger until this past weekend. I put some new tuners on it and worked with the pickup and string heights to eliminate excessive clankiness...and FINALLY got my old sound back.

It worked really well in my "college rock" cover band. Had a nice vintage-y tone, and really had a unique sound when the guitar player took a solo. When I had the rick functioning properly back in '92, I was playing mostly jazz band type stuff in high school....this is the first real rock workout it has had! I need to get it a good setup and cleaned a bit (the whole bass just felt "slow")....but other than that I liked it. I am new to the Thunderbird world as well, and I can now see the comparisons some people make. I am not sure I would shoehorn a Ric as a one-trick pony....but it definitely makes a unique statement!

jc
 
#157
lately I've been using my P for rehearsing with my band

the Ric and Spector when practicing at home

and the Ric always when playing live


I just can't get into J's of the 15 or so I've tried they all sound quacky to me,
and I always end up turning down the bridge pup, until it sounds like a P again...
the fretless ones are fun, but it's not my sound

the Ric is my sound
 
#159
I think the most golden things I've read so far in here is that a P-bass is versatile with one (1) pickup and a tone and volume for said one (1) pick up and a Ric is a one trick pony.

Lmao.

Seriously I need some of the stough the people who said that are on.

Ric tone immediately makes me think of my own tone...but the classic and modern examples have been pointed out.

They included so many genres of music...and it comes down to the classic battle of Fender vs Ric it seems like between us bass brethren.

To say you can't move the earth with a Ric hasn't seen Yes live.

Lmao I am going to stop before I get in trouble but there is some serious ignorance in here about Rickenbacker basses.

And it drives me nuts.

I am not saying the sound is for everyone, BUT I can't think of a more distinctive tone than a 4003/1 being played with a heavy right hand.
 

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