The Rickenbacker Club Part Nine

[Ric5]

A lot of the really cool tones out there can only happen with serial processing, though. Like putting an octave pedal somewhere upstream of an envelope filter and then running both. Or an octave pedal upstream of all kinds of effects really. Just saying.

You can put 2 or 3 pedals serial and have some other pedals parallel ...

The point of parallel is to mix dirty and clean signals. Quite often dirty overdriven signals will be mid heavy and lack low end. So mixing in a cleaner signal with a fat bottom will sound good.

 

[Ric5]

Mine has strongly re-magnetized shoes and a coil that is around 8.05k IIRC. It sounds mahvalous.

Those shoes will degauss with time ... where an alnico 5 magnet will hold the magnetic charge for a longer time.

 

[Ric5]

Or the classic Chris Squire sound,which utilizes the heck out of that "weak" old horseshoe.....the Key to Chris's Clank is Clarity.....

Actually Chris Squire dimed out the treble control on his amp and pretty much any bass that he plugged in would have that bright tone. Also he would quite often solo the neck pickup. And his horseshoe pickup completeley degaussed by the early 80s and he had to get it recharged. That is when he started playing a lot of other basses. Even today in live concerts his old Rick sounds weaker and thinner compared to the other basses he plays that have alnico or ceramic magnets in the pickups.

I played a 1968 4001 with the old pickups for 35 years as my main bass. In the early 2000s I put in 2 4003 high gain pickups and took out the .0047 capacitor and that bass suddenly had more balls than it ever had before.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

So many of those special tones we heard and grew up with were simply the result of the musicians using what was available. Keith Richards swapping in strange tubes into his amp. Jimmy Hendrix using a 30' coiled cord. Ritchie Blackmore using tape recorders for preamping. Andy Summers using a wack-o wired Strat. Robert Fripp using tape recorders for delays while live. It can be hard to duplicate those things. Sure, there are lots of digital modeling effects available, but those original tones were "sounds of the time".

 

[woodyng]

Ok,besides my own opinion, there are some that come directly from Mr Squire,(via a widely shown and shared current rig video interview on youtube),who acknowledges his new FOOW Ric,as well as his Signature CS Ric,sounds nothing like his old RM. I've also witnessed this myself in concert,when he switched to the FOOW bass to play Machine Messiah (2008 Nashville concert). While it sounded good,it lacked the clarity of the RM,and to my ears,did not get his classic Ric sound. Of course,he also feels a big part of that is the fact that the RM was sanded down several times,and is lighter and thinner than standard.

 

[woodyng]

K... So?

Again,a lower output pickup is going to have a cleaner,clearer sound than a hotter one.

 

[thiocyclist]

Again,a lower output pickup is going to have a cleaner,clearer sound than a hotter one.

How does that relate to Squire though? I just commented his tone sounds like the neck position. The pickup being wound hot is kind of irrelevant once his rig gets involved.

 

[woodyng]

Ok. Again,comparing the pickup (either the horshoe or the neck toaster) on Chris's bass,to a modern higain pickup(in either the neck or bridge position) is that those older pickups on his RM are lower in output,but they yield a cleaner,clearer sound. The comparison given where he played both basses through the same rig live seems pretty conclusive to me. But i think i have belabored this point long enough now.....really just believe whatever you like.....and i will do the same.

 

[Bubba Ghanoosh]

Damn. That's a gorgeous bass.

My magnetic horseshoe PU is no weakling, either, it sounds really nice (I do have the .0047µF cap bypassed on it, have not tried it yet with the cap in-line).

 

[Ric5]

Ok,besides my own opinion, there are some that come directly from Mr Squire,(via a widely shown and shared current rig video interview on youtube),who acknowledges his new FOOW Ric,as well as his Signature CS Ric,sounds nothing like his old RM. I've also witnessed this myself in concert,when he switched to the FOOW bass to play Machine Messiah (2008 Nashville concert). While it sounded good,it lacked the clarity of the RM,and to my ears,did not get his classic Ric sound. Of course,he also feels a big part of that is the fact that the RM was sanded down several times,and is lighter and thinner than standard.

I used to be one of those "Older is Better" guys ... but now I realize older is just older ...

If Rickenbacker still made basses identical to the 1960s basses they would have gone out of business ...

 

[RockinRonnie]

I have a couple of vintage Ric 4001's and am looking for more. I have never claimed that older is better or vice versa... I just know what I like and that is what I go for. Personally I am hoping more players will 'upgrade' to 4003's and free up some more 4001's for me to choose from

 

[thiocyclist]

Ok. Again,comparing the pickup (either the horshoe or the neck toaster) on Chris's bass,to a modern higain pickup(in either the neck or bridge position) is that those older pickups on his RM are lower in output,but they yield a cleaner,clearer sound. The comparison given where he played both basses through the same rig live seems pretty conclusive to me. But i think i have belabored this point long enough now.....really just believe whatever you like.....and i will do the same.

Not talking about pickup type. That's easy enough to change. Just position.

 

[Ric5]

Here's a frankenstein bass with one Rickenbacker pickup in the neck position. It cops the Rickenbacker tone.

http://www.3dentourage.com/425/eb0-1.mp3

 

[woodyng]

I used to be one of those "Older is Better" guys ... but now I realize older is just older ...

If Rickenbacker still made basses identical to the 1960s basses they would have gone out of business ...

I'm hardly of that mindset. I've owned a bunch of vintage Ric basses over the last 35 years,and my current 3 include one vintage ('74) 4000,and 2 newer ('04) 4004's,both of which have extensive electronic modifications. The most ferociously classic clanky sounding bass of the 3 is the 4000,with a pickup output of about 8k. Not that my laredo and Cii don't sound great with their much stronger pickups,just different,and to my ears less like the "classic" CS Ric sound.

 

[thiocyclist]

Here's a frankenstein bass with one Rickenbacker pickup in the neck position. It cops the Rickenbacker tone.

http://www.3dentourage.com/425/eb0-1.mp3

Yeah, now this is what I was talking about. It's not dead on but it definitely sounds like a Ric neck pickup (not talking about a Hi-Gain or a Toaster or whatever, any pickup) and it also reminds me of Squire. Compare to the bridge pickup soloed... it doesn't sound like Squire, it's way too mid-punchy with not enough bottom. Maybe if the cap's in the circuit and the neck pickup is in charge though.

 

[Ric5]

I played a 1968 4001 as my main bass for 35 years. Then I got a 73 and it was a better gigging bass than the 68. Then I got an 89 4003s5 and it was better than the 73. I really like the newer 4003 basses 1997 and later. My favorites are the 4004 basses but only when modified. I turn them into 5 string basses with single coil pickups.

If you play multiple basses the 4003 can compete with any passive Fender or modern active bass. But if you are playing a modern bass and switch to a vintage Rick from the 60s it will be weak and thin and you have to add an EQ pedal or turn up the volume to compensate.

The old Ricks were a good compliment for the old amps. In other words weaker output basses sound good with older amps that had little to no clean overhead. But with modern amps a bass with more output works better. It pushes the amp a little with a higher gain at the begining of the signal chain.

 

[woodyng]

The old Ricks were a good compliment for the old amps. In other words weaker output basses sound good with older amps that had little to no clean overhead. But with modern amps a bass with more output works better. It pushes the amp a little with a higher gain at the begining of the signal chain.

Hmmm,been using a 500 watt Markbass head with a VT pedal for the input,but i use that for ALL my basses,even my 2 active/piezo only Carvins. It just gives everything that sweet touch 'o grunge. I don't even have to vary the settings from one bass to the next....including the gain . I guess whatever works for any individual is what they MAKE work,and
I can't argue with your results,your audio clips sound fantastic!

 

[Korladis]

I like the higher output pickups through old amps. Mainly because I like overdrive.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Damn. That's a gorgeous bass.

Thanks! That's my March '73.

 

[DJJazzV]

Rescued from a point in time in ’87, a Rickenbacker FGBT. I haven’t been able to find another anywhere on the web. Not even references of one existing.
It sounds and plays almost exactly like my favorite black ’89 4003S.