Why Does Lou Not Get Another Rickenbacker?

[spongebob]

Wasn’t quite sure which forum to put this in, but…

I know that Lou’s old 4001 was stolen a few years back, but does anyone know why he hasn’t used a 4001/03 since?

When I saw them last Summer, he was playing the Mike Dirnt signature bass…..can’t say I’m a big fan of those…

I’m a bassist, and firmly a Ric player – partially due to Lou in the first place!

I’m just curious as to why he’s not played one (as far as I’m aware) since. I think with his style, it’s such a part of the Dino sound…and we all know that J loves his bassists to play a Ric…

Any thoughts?

[goodguyalso]

According to Lou. He hasn’t found another he likes.
He says Rics are temperamental. He discussed this on his forum.

[tonas]

I asked Lou that at a show (a few years back) and he said he thought Fenders sounded better, so he’s sticking with em’.

[Matthoney]

http://loobie.anthocore.com/index.php/topic,1009.0.html

This is a thread about it; but if you don’t want to read it all I’ll give a couple quick Lou quotes:

"stolen ..other ricks i tried suck..it’s that simple..even the 4001, though it had a distinctive sound, lacked dynamics..
any quality ricks i saw were in 3-4k range.. i was too heartbroken and too skeptical to just buy a replacement and assume it would work.. new ricks are mediocre at best.. buying one offa e-bay is not an option..
if i’m feeling rich i’d love to buy another one and maybe put precision style pick ups in it.. in my opinion most of the rick fetish comes from the look of the instrument..very few of them are really great..my 4001 was great but it’s gone ..i opted for consistency over aesthetics.. the fender has better low end, hi end ..sustain etc.. it lacks the mid range growl but so do alot of ricks…
not being a collector i didn’t care enough to turn the world upside down trying to find a replacement.."

"also..i lost the rick in the middle of recording ‘beyond’..it was difficult getting a good sound out of it , it was weird..
though the rick is on over half the songs on that record you can’t hear it , partly because the sound i was getting wasn’t so hot..
it seemed like losing the rick was a sign..the beginning of the new era ..the reunion ‘greatest hits’ part over.. on to new things on a new bass..
but….i think i’m going to start looking for a good rick when i get back to the states.. maybe do some shopping on tour.. i am starting to miss aspects of the sound and design ..(you can play higher up the neck on a rick)"

I would definitely recommend reading the thread though. A lot of great info from Lou on basses, what he wrote, the Dinosaur writing process, etc etc. Very interesting.

[spongebob]

Thanks for all that – great info!

Must say I’m quite surprised….I’ve been a Ric player for a number of years, and my current 2009/10 4003’s are the best I’ve had by far.

I’m sure I read somewhere about J liking his bassists to use a Ric – I know I saw some footage of The Fog, and the bassman (don’t know his name?) was playing a Maple Glow 4003.

The Sweet Apple video has the bassist using a Jetglow 4003 as well.

Maybe J can influence Lou into getting another!

[Matthoney]

J is very specific about bass, or he once was. In Mike Watt’s tour diary with the Fog, he mentions what amps J made him play, what pedals J gave him to use, etc etc. Lou himself says that now J doesn’t care about bass, so at this point maybe J either trusts Lou/doesn’t care enough, so he lets Lou play whatever he wants. But who knows.

[lizardjohnny]

When I met Lou he said he was going to steal my 4003

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