Actually Ric eventually started doing something they call "Ric-O-Sound" on many models and it's essentially the same thing - a stereo jack with a separate output for each pickup.
 
Chris runs each PU through it's own amp, often distorting the neck PU to a degree.
 
And it's not a complicated mod for anyone who can solder.
 
And besides the famous one and the Fish Out of Water bass pictured above, Chris has had a few other Rics, notably an 8-string used on the Going for the One album.

Hi,
 
Chris is good, but he is not the best bass player I have heard. I might say, and consider that he is the most proficient, and maybe even place him in the class of Stanly Clarke, but Chris is too lazy to sit down and get one of those real basses, and show people that he is just as good if not better.
 
In the end, Chris is just a good rock music bass player, and he is not capable of free-lancing, and doing things that are not up his alley, and this sort of lowers the standard for things, in my estimation. I would rather have a Helmut Hattler, in my band, than a Chris, to help burn up the music. If not Helmut, then I will take Stanley, though he does not use effects as well or as proficiently as Helmut can!

Keep in mind that Chris is playing bass, kicking bass pedals and singing.  I added bass pedals to my rig this year and quickly found out that it isn't as easy as it looked.
 
My contraption I put together.
 

I met Chris once when he was playing with some side band in Los Angeles.  The focus was on a female drummer who had a bunch of gear reps in the audience checking her out.  I don't know who she was now, but her playing was unbelievable and I got goosebumps during her drum solos.  This was in the mid-80's, probably '86 or '87.