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Calling Rickenbacker owners in Kent


Shaker
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Hi All

I think I 'need' a Ricky 4001/3. In reality I probably needed it in 1977:)

However being a longstanding Stingray/P Bass type I am concerned I might not actually like it.

Are there any Ricky owners in Kent (or South London and East Sussex) that I could meet up with to try one out?

I'll bring biscuits:)


Shaker

Edited by Shaker
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You're doing the right thing Shaker. I've played Fenders and their clones for the past 30 years. It was always a dream of mine to own a Ricky. The sale of my house last year made my dream a reality. I tried so hard to get on with it, great sound and absolutely gorgeous to look at but just too different in the way it sat and played. Eventually it had to go and the SR5 that sits in it's place is so much more [b]me[/b]

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Exactly as Bassman says - & never mind 1977 - I had MEGAGAS for 1 in 1973 & trolled the streets of that London with £400 in my pocket but couldn't find 1 out of dozens I tried that played well IMHO.

I ended up with a brand new Gherson Blonde Jazz, a Hiwatt 100, Orange 2x18 cab, an empty pocket & a seriously loaded credit card! BUT - that's another story!

I've never touched anothr Ricky Baker to this day B)

I hope you find someone to let you try their's & I wish you luck in your quest.

Cheerz, John

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Having learnt to play on Rics I find the opposite problem. Fenders and their ilk invariably feel all wrong to me. Having said that Rics vary enormously (as, to be fair, do Fenders) so I wouldn't just try one. They vary massively across the years too so try as many as you can from different periods. By far my favourites are '72 and earlier. Mid '73 onwards (with some exceptions) up to to the last couple of years I'm generally not that interested in, having owned a few and played dozens, but of course YMMV; you may like ones that I don't or you may not like them at all.

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Thanks for the replies.

I think I'm probably where Bassman2790 is, and the 'how it sits' and 'how it sounds' are the 1st issues to solve, and then as 4000 says, I need to find 'the one', or not. I'm trying to break it down into smaller parts...no point looking for 'the one' if you don't like the basic premise.

I started playing in 1973...it was an awfully longtime ago:(

Shaker

Shaker

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As you say, you want to pre-try one out and that is a good idea.

What fits your fantasy and what fits you in reality may be miles apart.
I really wanted one when growing up and was MAJORLY disappointed when I finally got to try them.. ALL wrong for me a 100 times over.
and I'd moved on a million miles as well in terms of what I was doing.
So ..that was me cured then ..:lol: :lol:

You have to try one to know. Good call.

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Don't listen to the naysayers! I have been a long time Stingray & P bass type too and took to the Rickenbacker like a duck to the proverbial.

"Why oh why is there no Ric in your sig?" I hear you cry - cos I had to sell it when I was skint.

If ever a 4001 V63 comes up for sale when I have some cash at hand, it will be the next bass I own!

I have PMed you with info you might find useful... ;)

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There was a guy who used to go to the local jams around Tunbridge Wells. He had a Rickenbacker. Might be worth asking at any jams that are on. I saw him several times in the prince of wales on camden road. He stood in for me once at a gig when i was away but i can't find his number.

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[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1329665916' post='1545516']
As you say, you want to pre-try one out and that is a good idea.

What fits your fantasy and what fits you in reality may be miles apart.
I really wanted one when growing up and was MAJORLY disappointed when I finally got to try them.. ALL wrong for me a 100 times over.

[/quote]

Exactly my experience. I tried one in Electro YEARS ago, when I was still learning the basics, and I put the bad experience down to it having an awful setup and being second hand.

About a year ago, I tried a new one. Still didn't like it. The pups, to me, seemed very bland and the neck just didn't work with my hands.

They look superb, but the quality issues and the neck put me way off.

If I find one I like, I'll buy it, purely because it looks cool...(and that makes me an idiot haha).

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I personally think that Rics are the most difficult basses to amplify correctly to get "that" sound. Whenever I've tried mine (all 13 or 14) through modern, neutral, transparent rigs they just don't work. I've only found a few amps that really work with them and in every case I've eq-d heavily. I've always found them at their best through gritty valve amps or (strangely enough) Trace / Ashdown gear. i'll never forget trying my Sei singlecut and my Ric CS through an EBS rig and a full Ampeg stack in the Gallery. The Sei sounded blinding through the EBS, but pretty poor through the Ampeg. The Rick was the exact opposite; through the Ampeg it was monstrous, but I couldn't get it to work through the EBS no matter what I did. I tried the same CS through an Epifani rig and got equally crap results, but it sounded huge through my Ashdown and previous Trace.

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[quote name='4000' timestamp='1330216326' post='1554329']
I personally think that Rics are the most difficult basses to amplify correctly to get "that" sound. Whenever I've tried mine (all 13 or 14) through modern, neutral, transparent rigs they just don't work. I've only found a few amps that really work with them and in every case I've eq-d heavily. I've always found them at their best through gritty valve amps or (strangely enough) Trace / Ashdown gear. i'll never forget trying my Sei singlecut and my Ric CS through an EBS rig and a full Ampeg stack in the Gallery. The Sei sounded blinding through the EBS, but pretty poor through the Ampeg. The Rick was the exact opposite; through the Ampeg it was monstrous, but I couldn't get it to work through the EBS no matter what I did. I tried the same CS through an Epifani rig and got equally crap results, but it sounded huge through my Ashdown and previous Trace.
[/quote]

Yep, totally unique and unpredictable instruments; a curse and a virtue in one really. No point playing any Ric bass but the one you're thinking of buying.

EDIT: and through the rig you're gonna play it through. My 4003FL loves valves and 15's. Sounds crap through met 2x10 SS rig

Edited by Beedster
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Ric - 50s design, thin pickups, rubbish tone with fingers (OKish with a pic) - Chris Squires - Precision for recording. Bruce Foxton - Precision because Rics impossible to keep in tune - look great/sound crap.

Great look, great style - but if you want to play bass then stick with a P/'Ray!!!

Every bass player dreams of a Ric - and every bass player goes back to a P after playing one!!

Nuf said.

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[quote name='tografox' timestamp='1330220040' post='1554364']
Ric - 50s design, thin pickups, rubbish tone with fingers (OKish with a pic) - Chris Squires - Precision for recording. Bruce Foxton - Precision because Rics impossible to keep in tune - look great/sound crap.

Great look, great style - but if you want to play bass then stick with a P/'Ray!!!

Every bass player dreams of a Ric - and every bass player goes back to a P after playing one!!

Nuf said.
[/quote]

'Nuf said' indeed :rolleyes:

I own a couple of Ps and a Ric - very different but both great. If I were to sell one it'd be the Ric only because I'm less attached to it. You really have to try one (or a dozen) to see if they're for you, but don't worry too much about how 'different' it feels from what you're used to. If you like it, then there's no problem.

BTW, I'd offer mine up to try but it's in need of a set up and it's a few counties over :ph34r:

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[quote name='tografox' timestamp='1330220040' post='1554364']
Ric - 50s design, thin pickups, rubbish tone with fingers (OKish with a pic) - Chris Squires - Precision for recording. Bruce Foxton - Precision because Rics impossible to keep in tune - look great/sound crap.

Great look, great style - but if you want to play bass then stick with a P/'Ray!!!

Every bass player dreams of a Ric - and every bass player goes back to a P after playing one!!

Nuf said.
[/quote]
:lol: Hilarious.

Chris Squire (I notice you can't even spell his name right) using a P for recording? Is that instead of the RM1999 / 21 fret 4001 / 4008 / fretless 4001 / Jazz / Tobiases / Thunderbird / Mouradian / Ranney 8 / etc etc? I'll have to ask Chris about this next time I speak to him. ;) Its quite possible he's used one somewhere but if you think he used one in place of all the above you're dreaming. Pete, where are you when I need you?

Never had a problem keeping mine in tune (all 13 or 14 of them). Posts like this are so funny. Its nice to know they let the lunatics out of the asylum sometimes.

FWIW My first bass was a Ric. My second was a P. I went back to my first. ;)

Edited by 4000
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[quote name='tografox' timestamp='1330220040' post='1554364']
Ric - 50s design, thin pickups, rubbish tone with fingers (OKish with a pic) - Chris Squires - Precision for recording. Bruce Foxton - Precision because Rics impossible to keep in tune - look great/sound crap.

Great look, great style - but if you want to play bass then stick with a P/'Ray!!!

Every bass player dreams of a Ric - and every bass player goes back to a P after playing one!!

Nuf said.
[/quote]

Probably worth countering one man's opinion with another's here. I started playing bass in the late 70's and until late 2009 had never played a Ric. This was because everything I've heard both of them and about them put me off (in fact, a lot of what I heard was similar to the post quoted above). As most on here know, I was a Leo kinda guy; Precisions were my mainstay with the occasional flirtation with Jazzes and Stingrays. I moved from gigging fretted to fretless in early 2009 (not because I'm any good at fretless per se, but because I've always struggled to get decent tone without fret buzz on fretted instruments), and having spent the summer gigging a lovely old fretless Jazz and occasionally a fretless Precision, felt I wasn't getting the oomph I wanted from either. So, I bought, on a whim, a 2005 fretless Ric body/neck and built it up. The first rehearsal in September 2009 was an absolute revelation, both in terms of the sound and the playability. The sound was the sound I'd always had in my head, fat lows and clear sweet highs, and the playability - despite a far fatter neck than either my Jazz or Precision - was substantially better; it sat better, my right hand seemed to sit naturally at the sweet spot (I always had to move my hand to an uncomfortable place to find this with Precisions and Jazzes. In short, it just worked. OK, I play flats and go for a far more retro tone than many players, so direct comparisons with what a lot of guys refer to as 'good tone' probably aren't applicable. However, I now don't have a Precision, and it's a long time since I could say that! I also have a fretted Ric-alike, mainly as back up but also for recording when things need to be slightly more in tune).

The above of course proves nothing, it's a horses for courses world and when talking about music, instruments etc, only an idiot makes categorical statements about one thing being definitively better than another. However, I will say that a lot of people give Rics a very hard time on the basis of having played a badly set up instrument through a crap amp in a store (or having heard about someone who did), or through assuming that Squire or Lee's tone is the only thing Rics do, without ever going to the effort of giving one a real go, as was the case with me for 30 odd years. Whilst I accept the Precision orthodoxy alluded to above, I can put my hand on my heart and say that i've played far more crap Precisions than I have crap Rics!

C

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As Chris says 'it's a horses for courses world'; it would be dull if we all liked and thought the same thing.

Interestingly (for me, at least) it is that 'revelation' moment I am after...does it 'sit right' for me. Maybe it will, maybe it wont.

His final paragraph also explains why I would like to try one owned (and loved) by a Basschatter...less chance of 'played a badly set up instrument through a crap amp in a store'.

Shaker

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I'm not sure when the next SE Bash is but I'd suggest that you put it in your diary and ask anyone whose got a Ric to bring it. You'd be welcome to play mine but bear in mind it's fretless, strung with La Bella Deep Talkers, and is in pieces at the moment pending the installation of a Ric RI horseshoe PUP!
C

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[quote name='tografox' timestamp='1330220040' post='1554364']
Ric - 50s design, thin pickups, rubbish tone with fingers (OKish with a pic) - Chris Squires - Precision for recording. Bruce Foxton - Precision because Rics impossible to keep in tune - look great/sound crap.

Great look, great style - but if you want to play bass then stick with a P/'Ray!!!

Every bass player dreams of a Ric - and every bass player goes back to a P after playing one!!


Nuf said.
[/quote]

I will refrain from feeding the troll.

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