Thought I had found my perfect bass

[jezzaboy]

Steve can have a loan of my P bass for a few weeks if you want. It`s a bit of a hybird, Squier body, Jap neck, US pickup, status flats but it sounds like a P should. I just use it as a back up but you are welcome to borrow it.

Jez

[munkonthehill]

[quote name='jezzaboy' post='1245843' date='May 26 2011, 04:18 PM']Steve can have a loan of my P bass for a few weeks if you want. It`s a bit of a hybird, Squier body, Jap neck, US pickup, status flats but it sounds like a P should. I just use it as a back up but you are welcome to borrow it.

Jez[/quote]

Nice one buddy. I may take you up on that offer.

I feel that moving on the aerodyne I had to make way for the bongo was a huge mistake and all I really needed to do was sort the wiring and maybe upgrade the P-pups.

Well I guess I do have a grand invested in the Ric. Sell that, buy a P/J bass and have a few quid left over for prostitues erm I mean massages.

[Prime_BASS]

So....

Is the RIC for sale yet?

[munkonthehill]

[quote name='Prime_BASS' post='1246887' date='May 27 2011, 12:00 PM']So....

Is the RIC for sale yet?[/quote]


Nah, I think unless a nice tele bass or something that really floats my boat comes along.

I know I could always get another if the mood takes me. But as I dont need the cash I dont see a need to sell it unless a REALLY nice bass comes along.

[Musicman20]

IMO everyone needs to see if a P bass is for them at some point. I definitely know a P bass is my go-to as well as a Ray.

[munkonthehill]

Ok so I have been noodling and rehearsing on the Ric now and although I am not in love with it,,,I m now not hating it.

I quite enjoy digging in deep and getting a we bit of a distorted sound. The full spectrum of tones are still very appealing for a passive bass. And the iconic look is really whats making me keep it if im honest.

BUT

its still 50/50 if this bass is for me. Cash aint an issue so I wont just sell it.

Does anyone know what kinda trades I would get for the bass. It comes with 3 PG. A black, white and a chrome pickguard. It doesnt have a hardcase or the candy if that makes any difference.

[geofio]

steve, one thing to consider , has your ric been set up properly??? as that can make all the difference between a good ric and a fantastic ric, i have had many rics through the years and they all sound different, they are different animals to other basses you have got to take time to get to know them, some days you can pick one up and you think to yourself its not what you want, then there will be days when the bass sounds like nothing else, and remember this bass is more than a guitar it is an icon of a bass so many people have played them, but as i say if you dont get the right person to set it up it can sound like bag of spuds!!!! jimmy egypt is your man in glasgow , he knows rics, and has been on the go for a long time, think before you part with the ric , you might regret it. i have one ric now a jetglo and it is awesome wouldnt play anything else, you can have any tone you want with a rick, its a versatile instrument. cheers george

[munkonthehill]

[quote name='geofio' post='1255466' date='Jun 3 2011, 02:09 PM']steve, one thing to consider , has your ric been set up properly??? as that can make all the difference between a good ric and a fantastic ric, i have had many rics through the years and they all sound different, they are different animals to other basses you have got to take time to get to know them, some days you can pick one up and you think to yourself its not what you want, then there will be days when the bass sounds like nothing else, and remember this bass is more than a guitar it is an icon of a bass so many people have played them, but as i say if you dont get the right person to set it up it can sound like bag of spuds!!!! jimmy egypt is your man in glasgow , he knows rics, and has been on the go for a long time, think before you part with the ric , you might regret it. i have one ric now a jetglo and it is awesome wouldnt play anything else, you can have any tone you want with a rick, its a versatile instrument. cheers george[/quote]


Well george if anyone knows Rics is you buddy the amount that come and go with you

I really appreciate your words of wisdom and I will take everything onboard buddy. You have given me some food for thought there.

Heres the thing....I am just back from a wee rehearsal/jam.

I brought both the Jag and Ric just so I can A-B them more carefully in a full band situation.

Much to my amazement,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,The Ric won hands down.

The sheer presence of the Ric could not be filled by the Jag and the feel of both basses were night and day. Although the Jag has a much nicer neck.......it just felt a lesser bass, toy like in comparison to the Ric.

The slight distortion of the ric was lovely however when I boosted the bass and treble on the jag I just got muffled sound compared to the articulation of the ric that seems to ba a passive powerhouse!!!!!!!!!!!!

It turns out im now at a situation where I think the ric has finally clicked and all it took was a wee A-B session. I am going to be taking both basses to rehearsals on Sunday and see how I feel. However I think I may start to appreciate the Ric

I quite fancy one of the Status basses in the for sale section,,,however if I can get this feeling for the ric at next rehearsal then I think I will be taking it off the market for a swap....

[geofio]

[quote name='munkonthehill' post='1256064' date='Jun 3 2011, 11:23 PM']Well george if anyone knows Rics is you buddy the amount that come and go with you

I really appreciate your words of wisdom and I will take everything onboard buddy. You have given me some food for thought there.

Heres the thing....I am just back from a wee rehearsal/jam.

I brought both the Jag and Ric just so I can A-B them more carefully in a full band situation.

Much to my amazement,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,The Ric won hands down.

The sheer presence of the Ric could not be filled by the Jag and the feel of both basses were night and day. Although the Jag has a much nicer neck.......it just felt a lesser bass, toy like in comparison to the Ric.

The slight distortion of the ric was lovely however when I boosted the bass and treble on the jag I just got muffled sound compared to the articulation of the ric that seems to ba a passive powerhouse!!!!!!!!!!!!

It turns out im now at a situation where I think the ric has finally clicked and all it took was a wee A-B session. I am going to be taking both basses to rehearsals on Sunday and see how I feel. However I think I may start to appreciate the Ric

I quite fancy one of the Status basses in the for sale section,,,however if I can get this feeling for the ric at next rehearsal then I think I will be taking it off the market for a swap....[/quote]
thats great steve, i really dont think you could own a finer bass to be honest, i have played in a few rush tribute bands , and it has always cut through, rickys are hard to get to know thats a fact and if you dont give them time , you will want to try something else, then you realise that the other thing isnt as good as the ric, the fender you talk about is a fine bass and sounds great, but the ric will murder it in a live situation,as you say i have owned many ricks mostly good ones i had seven before i sold 6 off as i no longer play live , i have kept one jetglo and i love it, i have tried a lot of basses in my time i am 50 now, and i can honestly say the ric is still my favourite bass and always will be, the only thing that came close was a warwick lx4 special edition at £2,500 . if you part with the rick, where do you go from there???? dont forget you ric will only increase in value, show me any other bass that can do that apart from a wal?? if you arent satisfied with the sound of the ric take it to jimmy egypt for a proper set up it will sound like a different bass. cheers george

[henry norton]

Can't you just keep both and pick either one up when the mood takes you? I know I'm biased as I make them but most players benefit from a bit of variety and it's not like you've got 2 of the same - they're totally different. Most players with a reasonably varied taste in music have and use more than one bass.

You change style and colour of clothes, eat different food every day, listen to different music. You should keep both for health reasons

[bassmachine2112]

Hi,if you get a decent pre-amp DI box,sansamp,hartke bass attack or the more expensive stuff like radial tonebone etc you will hear a Rick sing.They do like a bit of gain on the amp side and a some presence if you like it.

[bassbluestew]

Hey I feel for you...........I did something crazy and very similar recently.

O have been a Ray player forever, probably 30 years or so ??

About 20 years ago I heard my first Smith live, and everything changed. Putting aside the guy who was playing it ( my favourite Scottish bass player - Ewen Vernal ) it just sounded, you know RIGHT to my ears. I heard a few more over the years and eveytime I knew it was a Smith ( even went to see Riverdance with SWMBO and thought " I know that sound" and lo it was a Smith.
So recently I decided as my bass playing days are numbered due to progressive arthritits, I was going to seel my lovely Ray and equally gorgeous Overwater and buy a Smith. Like Monk I couldn't decide between using the Overwater or Ray and always felt bad about leaving an expensive bass in its box. SO I took the plunge. Unlike Monk I had no second thoughts, I fell in love with the feel of the Smith as much as the sound. Don't know if Monk had much chance to play the Ric before he bought it - I bought the Smith unplayed. Yeah I know, but I figured if it didn't work out I could easily move it on as the used market is rare for these basses.

Monk, the feelings you have for the Ric run deep. I hope it repays the faith, love and effort you are putting in.

We sooooooooooo need a Tartan Bass Bash btw !!
S

[Kongo]

[quote name='Muzz' post='1192661' date='Apr 8 2011, 10:22 AM']The more I pick up the three basses I keep coming back to (the FrankenP, the Ray and the Fortress), the more I think it's impossible for me to settle on a single bass which will do everything. They all have strengths and weaknesses which I think I should accept as part of their whole, rather than trying to resolve into one 'perfect' bass.[/quote]

In my experience, the quicker you realise this the more settled you feel...I searched high and low for that "one" bass, but fact of the matter is no such instrument exists, because they are all made to a purpose.
Closest I've got to is my Yamaha TRB6II, but even then there are areas...Like it's sheer size is great for what I want in a bass, but if I'm to play a song written by someone who used a smaller scale, narrower neck 6-string and utilised those traits in their playing...I'm screwed!

It took time, but now I've (almost) settled on 4 basses: Yamaha TRB6II, Ibanez BTB556mp, Ibanez RD605 and my self built P-bass "Trology".

Yamaha handles the band and most of my own stuff very well, broad neck, excellent tone and overall very well made high end bass. Hates anything but standard tuning. Very all round bass and great for progressive play.

Ibanez RD605 also used in the band, despite being a 34" scale has tonnes of tension, and this along with it's powerful pickups and pre-amp means it handles lower tunings better...And shakes the glass off of bars. (whoops) :-/

Ibanez BTB556 is back in the mix after I set it up properly and takes to my current home playing of Technical Death Metal better, only because it's slightly smaller than my Yamaha...An Ibanez SR would do the job miles better. (See, here we go again)

And lastly my P-bass...well it does everything a P-bass does and nothing does it better. Racer-X, Mr. Big, Iron Maiden, Billy Sheehan etc...Nothing better to play em on. Plus, should any time come I may need one, here it is!

So...After looking at those 4...I think it's impossible to have "the one" unless you can get a bass to shape shift. :-/

Edited June 4, 2011 by Kongo

[4000]

[quote name='munkonthehill' post='1256064' date='Jun 3 2011, 11:23 PM']The slight distortion of the ric was lovely however when I boosted the bass and treble on the jag I just got muffled sound compared to the articulation of the ric that seems to ba a passive powerhouse!!!!!!!!!!!![/quote]

I tend to find that basses which sometimes don't sound so great on their own often sound better in the mix. I've owned loads of high-end active stuff and in a band situation where there are distorted guitars, as good as they may have sounded at home, they all fall flat in rehearsals or at gigs.

Edited June 4, 2011 by 4000

[bassmachine2112]

yo,Stick with the Rick,it seems that you don,t play a Rick ,it plays you.
Good set up is very important,those single coils don,t muck around-get them right and it,s heaven time.I,ve found that a very light gauge of strings works best 30-90 set and balance the pick ups to each other not necessarily whack them up to full height.One way is get the neck one almost full up where it sounds nice soloed then adjust the bridge to the same volume near enough and you,ll not be far away.Another thing is they like a flat neck relief unlike the others
They do grow on you and you,ll be loving marmite soon.

[munkonthehill]

OK then.

The Ric stays....................................

Turns out I f***in love this bass. I know gas possibly got the best of me along with patience of getting used to the bass. One thing led to another and I just tried to pushed on the ultimate rock bass in history.

So like I had said, I took both my basses to 2 rehearsals over the weekend. I was very strict and regimental with my A-B of the basses. Every time I wanted to drop the Jag and pick up the Ric. This was due to feel, quality and more importantly SOUND AND PRESENCE.

I havent had any new setups done to it and not sure if I will. However I know Mark(7string) could always put it back to the way he does it if I didnt like the new setup.

I have had alot of offers for swaps. Including stingrays, Big Als, Gibson Les Pauls, Original Burns Bison even a Peavey wildcat along with powertools to even the deal!!!!!!!

Each offer was quite quickly dismissed and I am pretty sure it was because deep down I truely didnt want to give up this bass that I wanted for so long.

So thats me pretty much sorted I think. A moment of madness I think and thankfully I didnt bloody act on anything too quickly.

So thanks to everyone for their comments and words of wisdom.

I didnt realise a person had to get used to a bass!!!! surely this cannot be uncommon? I just assumed that I would click with the Ric and unfortunatly this was not the case. But the good news is that I am finally there.