this is why i should stay outta GC

[gtrguy]

My last bit of boring advice on Ricks:


These are a lot of fakes out there. I always at least check for the dual trussrods as most fakes don't have that. Some copies are very high quality, as seen in this pic of a 70's Greco 4001 copy I worked on last year, featuring neckthru construction, checkerboard binding, old style neck inlays, etc. Always the pickups are not anywhere as good as the real thing on these (Maxon on this one, if I remember right). There are many new fakes that don't even deserve the term copy as well.


Let the buyer beware.

[cozmik_cowboy]

used  hte S2 last night for an hour or so while i worked on my new ball and chain set list.  there's some days that thing just freaking howls when i gets frisky with it.  last night was one of them.  kinda gave me a little perspective as to what i have and made me snap out of it as in wtf was i thinking?

I have said before - Fenders thump, Rics clang, Alembics sing - and Gibsons sound like farting into a pillow.

think you need to stay out of GC, especially if baked.

that's my rule for grocery shopping, actually.  i save a lotta $ that way.

Just stay out of GC altogether; I used to work there, and they're evil, I tell you - evil!

Peter

[gearhed289]

Well, since you all got me going on Rickenbackers... 
I've been playing them on and off since 1979. I've had '74 (red dots), '78, and '79 4001 models pass through the herd, and I currently own a '89 4003S (my #1 since 2000), a '92 4001CS (Chris Squire Ltd. Ed.), and a '93 4003S/8 (8 string). I love this era more than any that I have experience with. The necks are absolute magic, the pickups are wound hotter, and there's no bass cut cap. I know, and totally get why, a lot of people like the older pickups/cap, but I like more low end, along with the traditional clank. Around 1999, they got a new CNC machine, and the necks haven't been the same since.

Coz - You should try a Thunderbird. They don't sound anything like a fart! 

[cozmik_cowboy]

Coz - You should try a Thunderbird. They don't sound anything like a fart! 

Nor, I will admit, does the Les Paul Triumph (perhaps my favorite non-Alembic bass model).  But naming the exceptions sort of ruins the wiseassery, and we can't have that, now can we?  And the EBs are really what what most folks think of when you say "Gibson bass", no?

Peter

[gtrguy]

I agree about the famous 'Mudbucker' Gibsons. I always thought you pretty much had to run one into an Ampeg SVT to get one to sound OK.
The Gibson SB 450 bass with the little humbuckers and stained maple body from the 70's is a fantastic unknown bass though, and it lead the way into the Ripper and Grabber series. It did have that poorly designed two post bridge.

[StephenR]

My grumpy old man comment is that I can't think of anything I would rather play less than a Gibson bass and an SVT would only make it worse, probably my least favorite amp... that is why we it is great that we have so many have choices for gear, there is no one-size fits all approach.

[lbpesq]

I sure liked hearing Rick Danko play his Gibson bass with The Band.

Bill, tgo

[pauldo]

Jack Bruce had an EB bass.
I had a Victory Artist by Gibson.  It ‘twas not a winner nor very artsy.  I thought it was cool because it had “active electronics”… young and foolish was I.

[cozmik_cowboy]

I sure liked hearing Rick Danko play his Gibson bass with The Band.

Bill, tgo

Yeah, he was good.  But that sort of (for me) falls under the same umbrella as the bassist for Vanessa Davis Band asking me after a gig how he sounded. 
"Man, you always play great!" 
"No, I meant my tone." 
"Oh - I'm probably the wrong one to ask that question." 
"Why?" 
"I don't think you can get good tone with your gear...." 
"Oh."
Turns and walks away - me thinking "Well, crap - you done went and did it again; getting fired 'cause when someone asks your opinion, you insist on acting like they want to hear it."  (Not to worry, kids; there's a happy ending that I've told before, but it's not germane to this thread.)

Oh, BTW - if you were wondering, he was playing a '76 fretless maple-board P-Bass with a Dirt'Marzio through an SVT with 2 8X10s.  Heck, he was even playing that if you weren't wondering.

Peter

[dela217]

My only experience with a Ric was that I bought one for my first bass.    It was a 1977 4001.   It was new and shiny, but I NEVER warmed up to it.  It was dreadful actually.    I sold it and immediately bought a spanking new Alembic Series 1.    I was ruined.   It was  78-1058.    I remember it well.     I then picked up 78-1168 shortly after.   That is when the disease really started!

Michael

[edwardofhuncote]

I miss Rick Danko... he could make anything sound good.

I missed out/took a pass on a RIC 4004L a while back. I've never cared for any of the other models Rickenbacker offered but the 4004 models, and this particular one was in AzureGlo, one of my favorite finishes. It was too much cash for a bass that I wasn't even going to play that much. But, my, my... it was fetching.

Beg to differ on the Gibsons... but with the caveat, some are woofy. The older EB-SG types, yeah they could get lost down there in the fuzz if you weren't careful. The later issues of EB though, (2013-18 ?) were a totally different story. A huge improvement in my opinion, that never really got a fair shake. I have a couple in my library that defy all Gibsonian stereotypes. The '87 Thunder Series V is essentially a studio Thunderbird, in 5-string. All mahogany, set-neck, lightweight, TB+ pickups and wired V-V-T, just like a T-bird. The string spacing is great for playing with a pick; very tight. The '87 Q-80 is a weird one too... it's a mahogany body in Victory style, with a maple Explorer type neck, and Grabber pickups, V-V-T controls. I swear they just made a run of basses from spare parts, shot 'em in black or red, and stuck Custom Shop logos on them. Irregardless of that, you can't make that thing sound tubby. I've actually got mine loaned out to a cat in a Dead band, along with a matching black Starfire. (I probably need to ask about that...)


I've just gotten very selective about what I want to play anymore.

[gearhed289]

"But naming the exceptions sort of ruins the wiseassery, and we can't have that, now can we?  And the EBs are really what what most folks think of when you say "Gibson bass", no?"

Haha! Yeah, I get it. I'm not one to come in the way of wiseassery.  I just have to come to the defense of Gibson basses because I like (some of) them. And honestly, if you say "Gibson bass" to anyone born after like 1975, they're likely going to think of a Thunderbird. It's been by far their biggest seller since they re-issued them in the mid 80s.

The EB basses/mudbuckers have they're place. Flatwound strings and a pick would be my choice.

Speaking of SVTs - there's really no other amp for me. I've recently kind of realized that my amp is probably more important to my sound than the basses I play. And Tech 21 makes a DI that sounds remarkably similar to a miked SVT, so that's become an essential part of my rig. As a guy who insisted on a mic on my amp for decades, I was genuinely shocked at how good the VT Bass DI sounds.
Greg - That 4004L was probably midnight blue. AzureGlo went away before that model existed. Cool basses. I had those HB-1 pickups on my 4003S for a while, but eventually came back to single coils.

[gtrguy]

I like SVTs and they are a standard backline amp. I will never own one though, as I don't think I could lift one anymore!

[JimmyJ]

Funny, my main instrument around 1972-74 was a Gibson Triumph Les Paul like the one in the pic below (which I came across in a Florida shop a few years back).  I modified mine with an internal Jenson transformer and a 3-pin XLR jack so I could step into the studio and literally plug the mic cable directly into the bass.  Guess I was already a function-over-form guy at that point.   

Then I asked my local music store pal if he knew of any company making basses with these cool kinds of electronics - but in a long scale?  He said "there's this company out in northern California you might want to check out..."  And that was that!  A 4-string Series-I in 1975, then the 5-string in 1976 and I've never looked back.   

I was never a fan of the SVT but amp tone was never my thing so I shouldn't opine about it. 

Jimmy J

[dannobasso]

I can safely say that I love and admire your tone Mr. J. May you continue for many years in health and happiness sharing it with us.