Members AlienArtifact Posted July 25, 2017 Members Share Posted July 25, 2017 After many years of searching... I finally found the perfect bass guitar. I always preferred the bass tones of Tool/Yes/Rush over the conventional Fender tones that are more widely used in rock music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted July 25, 2017 Moderators Share Posted July 25, 2017 I have long been a Ric fan. They're not right for everyone - there really is no "perfect bass guitar" - but for some of us, nothing else will do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AlienArtifact Posted July 25, 2017 Author Members Share Posted July 25, 2017 I've been playing bass since the late 80's. My first "real" bass was a Spector during the grunge years of the early 90's. I could get some cool "Ric"-like tones out of it, but it didn't quite have the growl of a Rickenbacker. I didn't even know until about 10 years ago, that Tool used Rics on their debut EP and first album. The bass tones on those recordings sounded amazing to me. Even if I wanted a Rickenbacker back in those years, I couldn't afford it... I was in college and broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted July 25, 2017 Members Share Posted July 25, 2017 Congratulations and Happy New Bass Day. You never know what bass is going to speak to you. A while back a Forum member was looking for a bass that would produce the tone that was in his head. He tried numerous brands, Fender, Gibson, G&L, Music Man, nothing did it for him. Then one day he played a used Warwick and that was it, a bass nobody thought of or recommended was ''the one.'' I'm glad you found ''the one'' for your ears. Play it in good health. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mikeo Posted July 25, 2017 Members Share Posted July 25, 2017 Damn it Geddy Lee. Your best work was done on a Rickenbacker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AlienArtifact Posted July 26, 2017 Author Members Share Posted July 26, 2017 I have the Ibanez ATK which is a poor man's Music Man. It can do the aggressive growling tones of the Rickenbacker, but the neck on the Ibanez is not nearly as comfortable and smooth as the Ric. And obviously, a mid-grade Ibanez is not on the same level as a Rickenbacker. The only knock on Rickenbacker that I can think of is... I wish they had a 5-string model. I've been playing 5's and 6's for years. I like having the low B sting... but I can live without it. And I agree with Mikeo... Geddy Lee's best work was with a Rickenbacker! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted July 26, 2017 Members Share Posted July 26, 2017 Chris Squire used to use a band pass cap on both pickups to remove the bass tones. Some older Ricks came wired with a .0047us cap wired in series with the bridge pickup. I and article he modified the values and use high pass filters on both (maybe different values) The cap is put in series with the signal to roll the bass off. This gives the bass a much more metallic tone with less bass. He's then use a Modified Marshall head that was used as a preamp that drive Ampeg power heads which drove 6X12 cabs. The combination of using the high pass cap and using a Marshall as a preamp gave him those bright overdriven metallic midrange tones he's noted for. He essentially drove a bass amp like a guitar amp doing that. I wouldn't doubt the strings were lighter too given the speed of his notes. Allot of bass players did that. John Entwistle used 12's and Marshall heads. There's something to say about that kind of setup, especially when it came to recording, and pressing to Vinyl. Studios would have to roll all those sub frequencies anyway before cutting vinyl. They simply removed the sub lows before they got to the mic. This allows the bass to be mixed hotter and compete more with guitars and keyboards. Its easy to wire in a band pass cap too using a pot so you can dial the bass off too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AlienArtifact Posted July 27, 2017 Author Members Share Posted July 27, 2017 I haven't tried out the "Ric tone" output yet on the new Rickenbacker. I have a guitar amp I can use for that output. I'm eager to see what kind of tones I can get with bass amp + guitar amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted July 27, 2017 Moderators Share Posted July 27, 2017 I have bypassed the bass blocker cap on all of my older Ric 4001s. I like a bass to sound, y'know, bassy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lug Posted July 28, 2017 Members Share Posted July 28, 2017 I have bypassed the bass blocker cap on all of my older Ric 4001s. I like a bass to sound' date=' y'know, bassy.[/quote'] I plan on doing this on my 77....the first time I remove the pickguard....which I've never done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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