The Cheats Guide to getting a Rickenbacker Bass Sound on a Budget. Tips, Tricks ( Heated Debate).

prowla

vale said:

@prowla ; thanks for the background story, prowla. you did doubleplus good, as alex would say (clockwork orange). a triumph.

i;m guessing yours is full scale 34" or 33"? i'd like to find a shortscale (30") copy, if the typical mij's can be tweaked to soundas good as yours. nmost of those i have hear just sound like cheap sub-precision copies.

low action is definitely something i need to do next time i want to fake it. hadn't thought about that at all really, but it seems so obvious. best ricky basses are low frets, glossy fretboard making the fretboard to fret-crest height even shallower, and an action so low you an play just by thinking about fretting a note.

as for other copies i think are convincing, the swamp ash copy here (first one of three) i think is as good as any difference doesn't matter. i keep the video in my bookmarks as a reminder how good a faker can be (will add yours to that).
for that classic low end clunky thump and top end nasal spank it's all there in spades. delicious.

Thanks!

I like the vintage Japanese fakers (I think they're all long-scale, same as a real Ric).

I'm not a fan of the current Chickenbackers, though.

vale

ICBM said:

I still think you’re over-thinking it. My 4001 has no lacquer on the board, is refretted with slightly larger frets and has a fairly high action - as well as the wrong pickups - and it still sounds like a Rick...

i agree. though over-thinking things is in my nature. arts grad and autistic, twice cursed!

but it's as much trying to quantify which aspects may give most effect on the real thing, and then which can be aped most effectively at least cost to capture enough of the tone to be wirth doing. a thought experiment in part, but with a practical aim and a list of ideas to try as outcomes.

ah but does it sound as like a rick as those with original specs and a lower action? probably?

it's a rabbit hole. but has given me a few promising ideas to try when i get my little bedroom studio set up this autumn-winter. it is one of those ideal bass sounds for me. but cost and unwieldiness (to my budget, my frame and my tastes) means a regular rick wouldn't suit me at all. i'm a happy hofner hussie at heart.

Bridgehouse

vale said:

happy hofner hussie 

I’d say that’s their next marketing strapline!

PolarityMan

Funkfingers said:

Bridgehouse said:
it’s an interesting exercise if you’ve done what I think you have. 

I am only willing to discuss what I have done via PM.

Maybe, not today. Maybe, not tomorrow but soon and for the rest of your life.

Lowpassed out all the attack from another bass?

Funkfingers

Nope. I just attacked the strings pretty hard.