what are you gassing for this week? this year? this forever?

[Travis]

Ric has made a lot of "budget" guitar models before but I haven't seen them do a cheaper version of the bass. Personally I kinda hope they don't ever outsource any production

Rocket, the Ric that the bassist from Earthless was playing looked cool huh?

[Beaker]

A Fireglo Ricky bass is the only guitar that I have ever had permanent GAS for - I don't think it will ever go away. If I ever had that kind of money to drop on a guitar, I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

My first guitar was a Hondo II Ric copy, with a plywood body, and hardware made out of some kind of chrome plated toffee. It was awful, but it got me started, and I've wanted the real thing ever since.

Most of my favourite bass players used Rics, so it kind of helped.

[rocket88]

Grrr. If someone can get a body outline I'll gladly get to work on it.

That's the second time I've seen Earthless and yea, love that bass. And honestly at that point if the show, I have no idea where I was, cause I was totally on another plain.

Did you notice nearly every bass player at the fest played a rick? It's not fair man, not fair.

I guess that since I don't get rid of any bass or guitar, I shouldn't complain. But, must get rick type bass. Travis knows my idea for changes, and it's way over the top, and would rick-donkulous.

Edit: I spoke too soon, the truss rod cover is $150 on eBay. For a damn piece of plastic.

[tabbycat]

Beaker wrote

Of course it depends on your budget, if you find a used Jag cheap, I guarantee you won't be dissapointed, but personally I'd much rather hold out for a Univox Hi-Flyer Mosrite copy (or copy of the Univox), a Danelectro or a De Armond Jet Star or Starfire bass. These are the true stars of the short scale world in my opinion.

church mouse budget of £100-£150 max. basically for writing bass lines and making bedroom demos. it's something i'll spend a lot of time with so it has to feel nice and be open to all possibilities. until i tried the sg bass i thought that would be great, but it just didn't fit somehow. didn't feel that instinctive connect. me not it. but i usually get on with jms, so unless the jag bass feels dramatically different to the guitar i'm sold.
the curves do it for me. not a fan of horns. i just find them annoying and in the way. something like a burns bison is the stuff of nightmares to me. i'd get tangled up in it.
thanks for the other suggestions. i had a mij ss mosrite copy once. looked great but felt too clunky. had the bass version of cobain's bleach era univox-epiphone. like a cross between a p-bass and a teisco spectrum 2. that was sweet but quite a solid neck and i like waifish.
it's weird that you should mention the jetstar as i was going to post a pic of a sunburst offset jetstar guitar here over the weekend. but since i've never heard one in real life it's more eye candy and only provisional gas. also very similar to the jetstar, the sunburst ovation magnum bass. wobble still plays his i think. a classy guitar like the guilds.

Beaker wrote

A Fireglo Ricky bass is the only guitar that I have ever had permanent GAS for - I don't think it will ever go away. If I ever had that kind of money to drop on a guitar, I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

My first guitar was a Hondo II Ric copy, with a plywood body, and hardware made out of some kind of chrome plated toffee. It was awful, but it got me started, and I've wanted the real thing ever since.

Most of my favourite bass players used Rics, so it kind of helped.

can't knock the hondo rick copy. hooky is the godfather. my favourite bass player of all time and a living legend.



re the cheapo ricky thing, is that clip not the best argument ever for them getting off their pedestal and making an affordable range of guitars to draw the kids (and those adults who have to live on kid wages) into the range?
how many ricky basses have been sold over the last thirty-five years off the back of that clip and all the band imagery that goes with the joy division legend and catalogue? to the nearest few thousand i'd guess at a shitload. indirectly and indirectly (i.e. other bass players getting one because hooky played one, in turn influencing others to get one, with the third link being unaware of the first). so how many months/years of ricky business can be put down to the fact that cheap ricky copies were once available, an iconic figure was seen playing one (couldn't afford the real thing), and subsequent generations of aspiring indie bassists went out and bought the real thing to feel that connection to their hero?

maybe the marketing team at rick should spend more time with pushers and hip themselves to the concept of the gateway drug. wean impressionable thrill-seekers into your product with a cheap hit and then you've got them hooked (npi) to your brand for life. if people get something they like they'll come back for more and more. "the pusher always gets it all back" (william burroughs).
if i buy a squire jag bass and learn to love it, then make a little disposable, i'm not going to go out and buy a ricky just because i can now afford one. i'll buy the best quality version i can of the jag i already know and love. i don't think that's just me, i think that's the way the thing works. habit and brand loyalty.

i appreciate rocket's concern that it mustn't dilute the quality of the brand, so the distinction would have to be clear between 'affordable' and the prestige ricky range. no middle ground. sometimes i do feel the quality difference between fender and squire isn't that wide. between epi and gibson, bigger i think. and with gretsch definitely a huge distinction between their core and budget range.

i'll shut up now. writing way too much. trying to type off the migraine from hell.

[Beaker]

The Jet Stars were/are awesome guitars, and interestingly provide an object lesson in how a budget line of guitars can spell utter disaster to the parent company.

When Fender bought Guild in the late 80's, they decided that Guild needed a budget line, like they had already done with Squier, and Gibson had done with Epiphone. So they set up De Armond (using the old pickup makers name) to make "cheap" Guild copies in Korea. They had two lines - basic bolt on neck versions at very cheap prices, that were ok (any model with the suffix "Special" e.g. Jet Star Special), and slightly more expensive set neck versions that weren't just good, they were f*%cking amazing - superb quality mahogany bodies and necks, awesome pickups and top quality hardware.

But for some bizzare reason, Guild were right out of favour, so sales of Guild dropped through the floor, and anyone considering buying a Guild, ended up buying a De Armond "copy" instead.

It only lasted a few years before the whole operation was haemorrhaging money, and Fender pulled the plug on both De Armond (absorbing a few models into the Squier range) and Guild itself.

It really was a sad way to go for one of the finest guitar makers in the world.

Fortunately I bought a Jet Star 6 string for myself, and an ultra rare Jet Star Baritone for my son, at giveaway prices when dealers were blowing out stock when Fender pulled the plug.

My son has ended up with both of them now.


I know what you mean about the user-factor with Ricky basses - in my case as an inpressionable 17 year old in 1978, it was a thoroughly unholy alliance of Lemmy, Macca, Geezer Butler, Geddy Lee, Glenn Matlock, Bruce Foxton and Gaye Advert.

Interestingly, Foxton was another copy user (an Ibanez or Cimar) when they first hit big.


By the way - keep scouring Gumtree - beginners basses (Hence short scale) are always popping up there, like the Squier Bronco. You could get one easily for under budget. Forget ebay, that would double the price.

[Travis]

I kinda think Ric should just keep doing what they're doing. Most other guitar companies have become so watered down. Look at Orange. Sure you can afford an Orange now, but is it really an Orange that you're getting? Or does it just look like an Orange? I feel like that's what you'd get with Ric, and I'm not interested in jeapordizing the good Rics for that. All just speculation of course.

Beaker brings up a great point with Guild. Let's hope FMIC never buys Ric

[knight_yyz]

I came closr to going to the store that had this in stock,  but then I checked my bank acount,  saw the 6 guitars in my room and said to  myself,  " Buy a few pedals instead"

[Silver Blues]

That's a pretty sweet guitar though.

[knight_yyz]

An old friend of mine has the solid body spalted maple and he sold all his Gibson custom shops.  He said it sounded better than any of his high end Gibsons at less than 1/4 the price...  The clips for this guitar sound amazing.  

[Freppo]

Right now i'm gassing for a Korg MS20 synth and a Roland RE201 tape echo.
Both which are too expensive for me at the moment..
The RE201 tape echoes has become so damn expensive in the last few years..

But what I really need is a good bass amp and cymbals for my studio.
People too often bring junk.. :/

[Travis]

That's so true. Bassists tend to not care about amps nearly as much as guitarists. I dig the sound of a dark, dirty old cymbal though. The brighter cymbals just get fatiguing to me and seem overpowering in the mix

I also would love a RE201 but yeah they're way too rich for my blood. The tape echo I just got is so fun though. I'm very happy

[rocket88]

I must be the abnormal bassist then. I care more the  guitarists what amp I'm plugged into. But, I got to agree with Travis. I hate when the cymbal sounds too bright, it's like when you put new strings on and it's too bright, they need that break in period.

I've now been on the lookout for a tape delay too, and they all seem to be going for stupid high prices. Makes me want to figure out how to just make one. Lol

[Travis]

lol any bassist on this forum is gonna be the opposite of what I described. Clearly if you're building your own shit and all this then you're a gear geek

I was looking for quite a while and never had any luck. Lots and lots of eBay bids. I just stumbled into a random deal and claimed it that second. You need to check out my Sireko. It would be doable to make one. You could basically just take an echoplex schematic or something and design your own mechanical portion of it which is relatively simple

[Travis]

In fact thinking more on it, some of these mechanical parts would be difficult to source, but you could totally harvest parts from an existing tape machine. That could even be cheap or free depending on what's laying around

[Freppo]

@Travis
Building a DIY tape echo would be super cool, but It would probably be difficult to get the mechanical parts right. Unless you mod an old tape machine, and they are easy to find for cheap.

I had a modded Revox A77 HS that I used as a tape delay, but with only 2 fixed speeds it was kinda useless. I sold it, still regret it though...

@tabbycat
If you wanna build a spring reverb, check out the Accutronics "Blue" reverb tank.
It's small. Maybe it can fit inside a stompbox?
http://www.accutronicsreverb.com/main/?skin=sub01_08.html

[kirshman]

What's a good driver for something like that blue tank reverb?

[Freppo]

For my spring reverb I used the Stage Center Reverb driver from here:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=99803.0

I don't know if it will work with the blue reverbtank, but it has worked well with two other spring tanks that I have used.
Only downside with the layout is that it needs a voltage inverter for +/- 9v on a separate vero.
I omitted the mix pot (linked them) and added a AMZ splitter/buffer insted so I could have 100% wet signal.

[Beaker]

The Surfy Bear comes highly reccomended:

http://surfybear.weebly.com/fet-reverb---project.html

It's another one one my "to do" list.