Iheartreverb

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1405629805' post='2503922'] In order of cheapness... Retrovibes are fairly cheap, but deviate from the Rickenbacker designs quite fundamentally. The cheapest are probably the ones on the Trade Tang website. Like Ebay, sellers are given a rating of trustworthiness. Many use stock photos of the same instrument for multiple sales or, even more disingenuously, will use photos of real Rickenbackers from Ebay sales. These are cheap Chinese copies. Now, the Chinese guitar plants will build guitars to any given price point, and they will do that exceedingly well. Therefore they can, and will, make amazing guitars with tight tolerances and brilliant materials... but they cost the same as regular good quality instruments. Those £250 Trade Tang specials will not be the best basses you can get. Models vary wildly. Some of the Trade Tang Rickenfakers go right off the map, with mudbucker pickups and other oddities in place of regular hardware. Even the best look visually different from real Ricks. For some reason they can never get the bridge and bridge pickup to sit in the right places... Next best, the Indie IRK. I remember Indie guitars from around 6 years ago. They made a lot of ES-355 type models with Union Jack finishes. Probably the brain child of an individual importer, ala Retrovibe. These had toaster-style pickups in both positions, which makes the bridge pickup look a bit odd. The bridge is also a generic high-mass Fender-style design. Hey, it probably works better than the original Rickenbacker bridge, but it is visually different. Overall I always felt these were a bit overpriced, and they no longer seem to be available. Next up is the Shine RK2000. The pickups are Seymour Duncan on these guys, and some Rickenbacker players upgrade to these models on the real thing! The construction is also right on; maple body and thru-neck all the way. The dimensions look pretty close, though the headstock is well off the map. They also use different sized knobs for the volume and tone controls. Visually it sits somewhere between the 4003, 4001 and 1999RM models as they lack binding on the body but retain the sharkfin inlays. If I had to buy a Rickenfaker I would probably go for this. Who's next? Rockinbetter. Cheeky name, and probably the most high-profile copyists out there. The earliest models look a bit goofy, with the bridge pickup in the middle of nowhere covered with a regular Jazz bass pickup cover. The next iteration of the design was closer, with a toaster neck pickup (presumably a SeiQ copy which is, essentially a Firebird-style minibucker in a housing that 'looks the part'). However, that pickup signals problems! Rickenbacker copyright the design of a chrome pickup with two black stripes on the top, and the Rockinbetter basses flaunt most of the Rick copyrights out there (body shape, headstock shape, bridge shape, pickup design... you name it). Therefore they are hard to find, and even the best ones are visually different from the real McCoy. The bodies are longer, so the bridge doesn't sit so well against the back edge of the body and there is a yawning gap between the bridge and bridge pickup. There are some others. The Schecter Stargazer has been beaten with the Lawsuit stick a few times, so the current iteration looks like a Rickenbacker in essence only. With the neck pickup confortably closer to the bridge than on the real thing, and the bridge pickup being situated much closer to the bridge than the real thing, you can wager they sound different. Likewise the Cort T34 hints at the outline of a 4003 in the horns alone; And the Italia Rimini hints at the 4005 model, as re-imagined by those '60s Italian accordion manufacturers that took up luthiery in their spare time. Nearly done... two other names spring to mind; Anniversary and Career. Career seem to have a re-brand of the Shine model posted above. Anniversary appear to have been a brand name that was stuck on the Rockinbetter models at some point in the past. These can be found, but not reliably. In general, I think there is always an 'audacity premium' that comes with buying a Rickenfaker. These instruments are overpriced for the quality of workmanship and components used, in broad terms. The Rockinbetter I got to try had terrible grounding issues straight out the box. The visual differences would also be a problem for me. Again, if these were all £250 instruments then I would not have an issue, but these are costing the same as a good MIM Fender. Moreover the only people who care enough (other bassists) at a gig will notice your ruse fairly quickly. Is it worth it? The most common complaint I hear is that they don't sound like Rickenbackers. Big deal. Rickenbackers don't sound like Rickenbackers either, to be honest. Chris Squire and Geddy Lee were using models that resemble modern 4003s in outline only, as the pickups are fairly different these days (hotter, for one thing). I think a general Rickenbacker sound (like the Yes and Rush recordings of yore) can be aped fairly easily if you don't mind modding a bass. I might put this to the ultimate test soon, but I wager that any generic P bass, with a hot pickup in the standard position and a weaker pickup under the virtual 24th fret position, will get the job done. What all these copies omit, without fail, is the 4.7 nF capacitor that Rickenbacker installed on the basses used on those classic recordings that give us eargasms. That capacitor eliminates a lot of the comb filtering typically associated with two pickups in parallel; the sound we recognise as quintisential to the Jazz bass. Topologically, the Rickenbacker bass is far closer to a P bass with an extra neck pickup (like the Yamaha Attitude) than the Jazz bass, yet people always try and chase a Rick tone out of a Jazz. I believe that the tone of all these instruments comes at least 75% from fundamental pickup placement, and the harmonic overtones that each pickup gets. Regardless of scale length, a Rick 4003 has pickups at the 24th and 36th fret location, and if you get pickups there, wired in right, you are on the right track. How do I know this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IcTOnIfmOY And, for what it is worth, Geddy, Chris, Sir Paul, Lemmy, Cliff Burton [i]et al[/i] modified their basses beyond stock. [/quote] Lots of very good information there! I have an aniversary which I have put Ric pickups in. I do like it however the body/ bridge situation leaves it needing extra long scale strings which annoys me a bit. The neck feels different to a real Ric but still a good bass for what I paid.

How dirty does the M80 and M81 get? Everyone seems the reference the clean sound but in looking at maybe something just on over over breakup as many use a sansamp for

Don't know if this has been spotted...Just seen pre order on guitarguitar for £169

Anyone know of any bass demos for these? Searched YouTube and couldn't see any

One of these for sale on my local gumtree today! I've never seen these before and then two turn up!

I wanted them to be good (as I love most EHX stuff) but the reviews were less than great so I binned the idea. For that money you have a fair few compressors in you're price range

I feel pretty bad that no one has replied at all but I've genuinely never heard of anywhere that does that. There's a service like this in America dubbed "the Netflix of pedals" but nowhere over here. Short of finding some generous folk on here the best idea would be something like a Line 6 M5 which is the equivalent of finding a massive box of pedals under your bed. Hope the recording goes well.

I got one recently and used it for practice for the first time last night. In the week leading upto practice I used it at home with a Ashdown perfect 10 (straight into input) and it made it quieter, more versatile and intimately better. I used it in practice into the effects return of an Ashdown AMB300 and is sounded pants. No definition at all and just sounded muddy and a bit too distorted. I put it in the front end (input) and although this was better, I didn't really need it with a decent-ish amp.

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1398185002' post='2431343'] Or you could make a loop pedal (4 jacks, footswitch and case) and stamp on that instead of the plashit behringer pedal. You could probably do it for a tenner (plus P&P) from www.doctortweek.com [/quote] I'm using it always on. It's not so much the stomping I'm worried about but just it's general condition over time being bagged up/ carried about/ unpacked, plugged in/used/ unplugged over time.

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1398176279' post='2431203'] Spot the unwanted spell check! [/quote] That's auto correct for you! Thanks for the serious advice above too

Recently bought a behringer BDI21 and would like to house it in something a bit more substantial. My local pedal builder has quoted me £60 which just poo's all over the £15 Bahrain pedal. Has anyone done this or anything similar? Is this cost average? Can you recommend anyone?

How's the synth stuff? Every demo I have seen just shows it on funk stuff

Says it all really. Post rock band consisting on 2 guitars, bass, violin, viola and cello need new drummer. PM if intreated pass on as much as possible if you might know people.

[quote name='merello' timestamp='1395262718' post='2400495'] Lovely bass. Gtr Gtr Glasgow have a walnut one... And a ruby for a prevposter... Oops...just noticed the Walnut Ricky fred! [/quote] I played the one they have in Glasgow. First time I've seen one I person. Just beautiful

Wouldn't bother with Ric resource if you have a copy, they aren't kind to you/ them. In in the same position as you (copy, looking to change electronics). The biggest difference with out copies is they don't have the 3rd cap in there (which the push pull allows you to take out). I would expect you to lose output and low end by adding this, which you would do if you are going to Ric wiring. Let us know how you get on! Out interest what value pots did you go with?

I have a copy that I'm soon approaching an electronics upgrade on. Pickups are fine (either Ric or Classic Amplification) but do you guys convert the wiring to Ric spec or keep it as it is? Obviously Ric's have that extra 0.47 cap in there that (on newer models) can be taken in and out of play. Mine is just wired up with 2x 0.47 on the pots where they should be.Does that mean technically I'm going to be the same as when the cap is out of circuit (with more bass response as intended?). Is it worth fitting the extra one? Do you guys use 330k Ric spec caps? I'm thinking of going all 250k as I prefer a darker sounds and less harsh treble, would this work?