Beedster

Great post

Agreed, I've always felt that in choosing a bass we consciously or subconsciously anticipate a tone and find a way of producing it. Rics are a great case in point. If I had a pound for every time someone made a cliche remark around Ric tone along the lines "clanky' I could have afforded to keep both my very non-clanky Rics. Rics, like Jazzes, Precisions, 'Rays and pretty much everything else, sound like the player playing them through what they're playing them through with whatever strings are on there. Yep, many subtleties for sure, and yes PUPs make a difference (but again, some of that is simply psychological "Hey, this PUP is gonna make my bass sound like a Ric"). I know for sure that when I picked up a Ric, with that massive neck and the rather odd way it sat when played, and the bleeding knuckles form the PUP surround, that I played it very differently to other basses; as my guitarist once put it, I was a lot more 'agricultural' on the Ric. I'd still love to be proven wrong by your experiment though

The sound of a Ric is all in the eyes Well, some of it is. I love Rics, but got one hell of a wake-up call when I realised that the Ric sound in my head could be got by using the same strings, and importantly the same playing style, with a Jazz,, albeit a Jazz with a chunky Precision neck. Heavy flats, pick, both PUPs on, tone rolled back a bit. Didn't feel like a Ric, which part of it for the player, but sounded like one. But well done, great idea, and great first post. Love to hear how it works out.

Yes, bridges can make a massive difference, and importantly, there's not an obvious cost/benefit ratio, which is why I'm about to sell three Badass II bridges. These days I'm preferring fewer overtones and less sustain, and there's not much point paying £100 for a bridge if you have to stick a 20p piece of foam in front of it to get the tone you want

Wise. Amp gets too heavy? Get a gym membership or a roadie. There's a reason why nearly all the classic amps are heavy. I curse the weight of my SVT every time I have to lift it, but that's all forgotten when I plug in, and even my lightweight heads are still pretty big and heavy (e.g., Mesa Venture)

When the singer says "mate, can you do something about your tone?", you simply hit the "vocal enhance" switch (DFA1) and say "How's that?". S/he will love it. On the other hand when a guitarist say's you're too loud and s/he can't hear the nuances of their '57PUPs, you hit the "guitar enhance" switch (DFA2). S/he will also love it. I have a few such circuits in stock if anyone would like to buy one, they're lightweight and require no expertise to install, but don't come cheap.

Great basses, good call. The two switches are DFA1 and DFA2. Sound guys use them, albeit mostly with guitarists and singers, it's unusual for them to be required by bassists

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