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Ric GAS


justinbass

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I see your point, but... I agree a Jazz can come close to a Geddy tone a la Moving Pictures and the more recent stuff, especially if its signal is processed in a similar way (I think godlike Ged uses lots of compression and boosts the midrange a ton), but can a Jazz sound like Chris Squire on Fragile? Only a few basses have tones so distinctive you can describe them by name - Precision, Jazz, Ric, maybe one or two others. For my money, the Ric is foremost among them.

 

 

You do know that Squire had an additional pickup in the mute compartment of his Ric, don't you? I don't know exactly when he had it installed. I have the same in one of my Rics, and it brightens the tone considerably.

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You do know that Squire had an additional pickup in the mute compartment of his Ric, don't you? I don't know exactly when he had it installed. I have the same in one of my Rics, and it brightens the tone considerably.



Brightening a Ric. Isn't that akin to trying to help Richard Simmons be less of an introvert, teach Geddy to sing in a higher pitch, teach Rush Limbaugh to be more conservative, or teach Michael Moore to be less biased in his films? :confused:

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This is news to me.

 

 

And I might be misinformed. It wouldn't be the first time. I found this and thought it interesting:

Posted: 11/28/2005 9:23:00 AM


Note that a post has been deleted from this thread, which was a mostly fictional account of how Chris's instrument has been serviced here.


The bass has been back here a number of times for various types of service. The last time it was here, Grover Jackson planed off the fingerboard and installed a new set of truss rods. A very well known luthier, who I won't embarrass by naming, had done some major repairs and in the course of things allowed the truss rod slot to completely fill up with glue, defeating the action of the original rods. Obviously, this work including refretting and refinishing of the neck.


One huge surprise was the fact that the treble pickup was completely disconnected and his tech told us that Chris had never used this pickup, at least for many years now.


As it happens, we have two other basses of Chris's in here right now for some parts replacements.

http://www.rickenbacker.com/forum_view_thread.asp?thread_id=857&forum=Just_Basses&thread_name=Chris%20Squire's%20Bass

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You could reasonably fake a Ric sound with a '70s jazz bass but then it just sounds like an over treble-y Jazz bass - not a ric.

 

 

I find that the supertreble is the only tonal nuance of the Ric.

 

The flat thumpy-rubbery sound can be had in many other basses, especially if you use flats.

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I find that the supertreble is the only tonal nuance of the Ric.


The flat thumpy-rubbery sound can be had in many other basses, especially if you use flats.

 

I'm trying to approximate the video in the OP.

 

I have a Ric and anyone who says it's a one trick pony is full of {censored}. I don't mean that as some crazy Ric fascist weirdo but my active Status S1 five string and my Fender Jazz bass are no more "versatile" then my Ric.

 

IMHO, I just don't buy into this versatility bull{censored}. A Jazz sounds like a Jazz, my Status sounds like a Status, and my Ric sounds like a Ric.

 

Edit: By the way, I just ripped this from some random jam my band did (so excuse the sloppyness) but you can still get a pretty righteous bass tone without going super-pick-mayhem:

 

DivShare File - Demon Cleaner sorta.mp3

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I sort of disagree about tones not being versatile. Sloppy playing, but that's one bass, one technique and about seven fairly different tones.
:p


Sounds like the same bass just being EQed differently (i.e. pickup selection, etc). :confused:

I'm terrible about being clear with what I mean but basses can sound different but it doesn't sound, to me, like one bass is inherently more "versatile" then others. Some may prefer one tone for something but that says more about preference then anything else.

Maybe I'm just an idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about...

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Sounds like the same bass just being EQed differently (i.e. pickup selection, etc).
:confused:

I'm terrible about being clear with what I mean but basses can sound different but it doesn't sound, to me, like one bass is inherently more "versatile" then others. Some may prefer one tone for something but that says more about preference then anything else.


Maybe I'm just an idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about...

I can't get my link to work, lol. I'm still listening to your band's jam. Haha. Are you running an EBS multidrive?

 

 

It's flat, but I've been told that said bass easily emulates the tonal qualities of Jazz, P, and some of the available Ric tones.

 

Not one bass, neccesarily, but one configuration. I get more out of almost ANY two-pickup'ed bass than I do out of almost any single-pup config.

 

It's all about preference, yeah.

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I can't get my link to work, lol. I'm still listening to your band's jam. Haha. Are you running an EBS multidrive?



It's flat, but I've been told that said bass easily emulates the tonal qualities of Jazz, P, and some of the available Ric tones.


Not one bass, neccesarily, but one configuration. I get more out of almost ANY two-pickup'ed bass than I do out of almost any single-pup config.


It's all about preference, yeah.

 

I got the link to work myself, it just had a random slash and a duplicate http thing.

 

On that jam it's my EBS HD350 which does have the multidrive in it's gain circuit when cranked (which it is in that recording) but I also have my prized Boss SD-1 modded by Humphrey Audio which ROCKS.

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I got the link to work myself, it just had a random slash and a duplicate http thing.


On that jam it's my EBS HD350 which does have the multidrive in it's gain circuit when cranked (which it is in that recording) but I also have my prized Boss SD-1 modded by Humphrey Audio which ROCKS.



That's a really bitchin' tone, man.
Lots of varied forms of aggression. :)

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