Roger Glover

[ilan]

So in a couple of hours I´m meeting Roger Glover at Ian Gillan´s villa in Faro, Portugal. Anything you guys want me to ask?

[Chris P.]

Nice! Enjoy!

I use Glover tuners on a lot of my basses. 

[Alanko]

It would be interesting to find out how many Rickenbackers he used and, specifically, how many of his had the double-Jazz neck pickup configuration. I've seen a Fireglo one attributed to him, but I've never seen a picture of him using it.

Quite a daft question given his history and back catalogue, but something that might help me sleep better at night. 

It would also be interesting to find out how often he used the Mustang in the studio, and if in fact some of his classic Precision/Rick tones are actually the Mustang.

[Pekka]

It would be interesting to find out how many Rickenbackers he used and, specifically, how many of his had the double-Jazz neck pickup configuration. I've seen a Fireglo one attributed to him, but I've never seen a picture of him using it.

Quite a daft question given his history and back catalogue, but something that might help me sleep better at night. 

It would also be interesting to find out how often he used the Mustang in the studio, and if in fact some of his classic Precision/Rick tones are actually the Mustang.

Qood questions. I've always thought he used the Mustang on "Fireball", P-bass before that and 4001 "Machine Head" (unmodded) and "Who Do We Think We Are" (modded).

Roger seems like a guy who still remembers those things.

[ilan]

[TBird1958]

So in a couple of hours I´m meeting Roger Glover at Ian Gillan´s villa in Faro, Portugal. Anything you guys want me to ask?

 So Jealous! Both that you're meeting Roger Glover and that you're in Portugal - I'd love to visit!

He's an early influence and still a fave player for me!
Hope it's a great experience 

[Dave W]

Ilan, is this the same kind of situation as when you interviewed Sir Paul?

[ilan]

Dave: yes.

I only had time for one gear question so I asked about the Ric. He said it's like an old friend and that he's never going to let it go, but it's "lost its mojo". Even after having it restored and all the wiring replaced. I suggested that maybe this was because of all the mods he made to that bass. He mentioned the slanted J pickups, I asked why did he do it and his answer was, "I didn't want to sound like Chris Squire". He said that originally it was all highs and not enough lows. I asked if he knew about the cap. He didn't.

[Dave W]

Dave: yes.

I only had time for one gear question so I asked about the Ric. He said it's like an old friend and that he's never going to let it go, but it's "lost its mojo". Even after having it restored and all the wiring replaced. I suggested that maybe this was because of all the mods he made to that bass. He mentioned the slanted J pickups, I asked why did he do it and his answer was, "I didn't want to sound like Chris Squire". He said that originally it was all highs and not enough lows. I asked if he knew about the cap. He didn't.

That's a shame. I hate to think about how many Ricks have been modified by people who didn't know about the cap.

Anyway, nice opportunity for you.

[ilan]

They really are two great guys.

[Alanko]

Quite an interesting response. The Chris Squire link is sort of obvious. Perhaps a case of The Baader Meinhof Complex, but I'm sure that is the second time I've seen Squire's tone described as 'all treble' in the last week. Perhaps I'm lucky to be young enough to have only heard various remasters of Yes's work, but I always associate Squire's tone with a guitar-like treble (not the sort of hifi treble Victor Wooten and friends deliver) and a solid sub-bass tone. There isn't the mid response you might get from a Precision bass, but that is the frequency band Steve Howe usually occupied. I've heard Yes bootlegs where the sub-bass element is there, though perhaps hotter on some notes than others.

Perhaps a better question would be to consider how Squire was perceived by fellow bassists, especially those outwith the Prog genre in the '70s? Jon Camp of Renaissance outright copied his tone and compositional style, whereas Glover took extreme measures to make sure he didn't end up with that tone. Do Ricks benefit far more from modern amps than simply bi-amping into non-master-volume tube heads and hoping for the best? Glover and Squire were both using shallow, un-ported bass cabs back in the day, which probably wouldn't reproduce the full rumble of a Rick?

[luve2fli]

Ilan - that's a GREAT pic! You were in the presence of Rock and Roll Royalty. Kudos to you.

[uwe]

I'm unable to even get a word out, gulp!



Roger never liked his Ric sound, he thought there was too much distortion, he wanted a smoother "more American sound", "the grass was always greener" for him "on the other side". During the remaster and remix of Machine Head he even described it as "messy with too much side noise".  And that is why he has what he has with his Vigiers today, a very clean and pure sound with no nasty frequencies (which we all tend to love but he doesn't!). Very much a "producer's bass sound".

He never realized that that Ric sound on Machine Head





and its even more distorted version on the Made in Japan album influenced a whole generation of bass players. I believe he used stacks of Martin bins in the 70ies to boost his sublows (but he probably never heard those sublows on stage with the racket Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore were making). I certainly never found his Machine Head/Made in Japan-era sound anything but full and not too trebly at all.

Did they say anything about Ritchie at RRHOF?

[gearHed289]

Great pic indeed! Very cool.

A lot of people underestimate the low end that's possible with a Ric. The positioning of the neck pickup is where it's at.

That's a shame. I hate to think about how many Ricks have been modified by people who didn't know about the cap.

Also a shame that nobody knew how to adjust the truss rods properly. How many Rics were tossed aside because of "neck issues"?

[Denis]

Wow, lucky you, Ilan!!!

I would never have known about that cap in my Ric if I had not joined this forum!

And the first time I saw a Ric technician adjust the truss rod in my 4001 I thought I was going to faint.