Low end gets thin on my 4001.

houston · Post by **houston** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:25 am

This is difficult to explain; occasionally, the "fatness" just drops out of my 4001. I still have low notes, they just seem to be squelched. Each pickup has output, but with either single pickup or both pickups on (which is how I almost always play), the "guts" of my sound will sometimes go away, leaving it thin-sounding. And no amount of unplugging, pickup selecting, knob-twiddling, etc. will bring it back.

My Jazz bass doesn't have this problem, and it isn't limited to my rig; I've had the same thing happen on other rigs. I've changed cords, taken my tuner out of the chain, etc., but nothing helps. When she's in the mood, she comes on strong. When she's not, she doesn't.

I should mention that this generally happens after I've been playing awhile (an hour, maybe). And some nights it doesn't happen at all.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks in advance,
Joey

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:55 am

Does it have the capacitor in it? That might be the culprit. There is a bass-cut capacitor in older 4001's that a lot of people remove and bring those babies to life!

Welcome to the Forum, Joey!

wints · Post by **wints** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 11:36 am

Welcome Joey.

Like Steve says, the old 4001 basses have a bass cut capacitor .0047 that basically sucks the life out of the treble pick up. Maybe yours has developed a fault/short and you get the full sound when it's NOT working and the thin when it is. You can bypass this permanently which a lot of us here have done.

Do a search on the forum for .0047 cap

Good luck and report back!

loverickbass · Post by **loverickbass** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 11:43 am

Check your output jack too.

Cole

geddeeee · Post by **geddeeee** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 1:26 pm

I agree, check the output jack. The .0047 cap DOESN'T suck the life out of the sound, it adds a touch of class... THE REAL Rick sound!!! (Bloody by-pass.. AAAAHHHH!)

henry5 · Post by **henry5** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 12:41 pm

Yep, I'd say jack socket. This (or something extremely similar) has happened to me a few times and it was the jack every time....

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 2:26 pm

Hey Mark, I couldn't agree more - honest!

geddeeee · Post by **geddeeee** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 4:03 pm

Right on Sergio. It looks like we're in a minority of 2!! LOL!

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 7:02 pm

I'd try resoldering the connections in it, could be a bad soldier joint. It could also be a short near the output or on the stereo jack, some wires touching intermittently. Could be a bad cap but that is a long shot. Open it up and play around with it while amplified, see if you can induce the dead sound somehow by manipulating the wires, switch etc.

prog_rockin_metal_man · Sun Aug 27, 2006 3:02 am

count me in for the people who like the caps in their 4001's...it's a minority of 3 now haha

it sounds like it's either a problem with the jack or it could be a problem with your lead chord...I had a lead chord that had a bad connection and it sucked all the life out of my bass and left it sounding very thin and weak. At first I thought it was my bass that was the problem but I later figured out it was the lead chord so I brought it to get fixed and now it's as good as new.

geddeeee · Post by **geddeeee** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 3:20 am

Power to the Cap People...

prog_rockin_metal_man · Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:39 am

Right on Rickenbrother!

henry5 · Post by **henry5** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 7:22 am

I think the cap thing depends on the bass. My old 76 azure didn't sound that great with the cap in and was greatly improved by removing the cap , but my 72 sounds fantastic with the cap; in fact removing the cap only makes a slight difference.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 8:56 am

my old 68 4001 was a cool bass ... with the cap and a 60s horseshoe and a neck toaster ... but when I removed the pickups and the cap and put in 4003 high gains that bass was truly thunderous and it still retained all of its treble bite ...

I bought a 73 4001 off of ebay that somebody had half-assed wired like a jazz bass ... but they did it wrong and it sucked ... so I rewired is like a 4003 (no cap) but used the 4001 pickups ... it sounded very good ...

Then Steve Cooper had a 76 azureglo 4001 ... the neck pickup was almost dead and it was wired with pots that turned backwards ... very strange ... so I put in a neck toaster and wired it up with 250k ohm pots and no cap ... that was one of the best sounding 4001 basses I ever played ... to combination of the 250k ohm tone pots, no cap, and the toaster was most excellent ...

essentially the ric bass is more mid voiced than a fender bass ... a lot of it is the resonance of the structure and wood ... part of it is the pickups and electronics ...

cap or no cap ... the is no right answer ... but if you want more low end removing the cap will help ... also the 4003 pickups will give you more low end as well ...

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 12:05 pm

Actually, Jeff, the AzureGlo was a '75, and you're right, it was most righteous!!