De-Capping

congerz83 · Post by **congerz83** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 4:45 pm

What does it mean to de-cap and is it difficult. Do I need to de-cap my C64S for that signature McCartney sound?

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 6:07 pm

The old 4001 basses were more trebly sounding than the modern 4003 basses ... there are several reasons why ...

1 - The pickups were wound to 6 to 8k ohms
2 - The tone pots were 500k ohms
3 - They had a .0047 capacitor that truncated the bass and low mid response from the bridge pickup.

Here's a picture of the capacitor

The 4003 is more full sounding because ...

1 - The pickups are wound to 11k ohms
2 - The tone pots are 250k ohms
3 - There is no capacitor

If you want your bass to be like McCartney's bass was with the beatles then leave in the capacitor and use flatwound strings ... If you want your bass to be Like the "Wings" bass then remove the capacitor and put in a 4003 high gain ...

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:04 pm

My favorite McCartney bass sound it with the modded Ric and no cap and of course his flats ... although I prefer rounds ... a good example is silly love songs ...

If I had a c64 bass I would probably bypass the capacitor or install the 4003 push pull switch ...

Those old 60s 4001 basses do sound really good with a 11k ohm high gain bridge pickup and no capacitor ... I tried that on my old 68 4001 and it screamed ... but on a c64 I would leave in the horseshoe ...

and for the record ... there are guys here who know more about Paul and his basses than I do ...

The question is if you are happy with the sound of the c64 then don't modify it ... if you want more low end then bypass the cap ...

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 7:53 am

If I had a c64 I would also bypass the cap ... for my money there is a better way to make a modern Ric have the vintage treble attack than using the .0047 capacitor ... and that would be 500k ohm tone pots ...

These days with bass pods, sans amps, and modern 300 - 500 watt bass amps and speaker cabs with horns and woofers you can get a lot of high end out of pretty much any bass ...

rickfan63 · Post by **rickfan63** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 10:19 am

I bypassed the cap on my C64 too. Much better bass response for my ears and the bass still has all the highs I need. My Ampeg combo can supply more highs if it's ever needed. I highly doubt it ever would be though.

geddeeee · Post by **geddeeee** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 11:54 am

I LOVE the cap. True Rick sound. Mine was an 2004 model, so no cap. Sounded like a F*nder. Put the cap in. WOW!!! So much more tone and cut through. Plenty of bottom end too. Sounds like a Rickenbacker bass should....
I've never had a problem with a weak pickup as I play with the switch centered anyway. All sounds available... Lemmy to John Deacon and all stops in between. 'Ain't that right Sergio???

bob_atherton · Post by **bob_atherton** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:01 pm

I agree Mark. I tried the cap bypass on my '78 4001 and it lost its Rickenbackerness. I guess with the cap I have to boost the mids a little on the amp but it sounds better than without the cap . YMMV

Forgot to add, this is why I have ordered a new AFG with a toaster. I hope to get the best of all worlds, and a thinner neck.

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:27 pm

Mark:
Yeah! But I for one do have a problem with a weak pickup, which is why I have replaced the original treble p.u. on all my 4001 basses with my own, much hotter high-gains. Even through the much-maligned, much-discussed capacitor - which as Bob points out is central to the Rick tone - they have higher output than the stock neck pickup.

geddeeee · Post by **geddeeee** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:59 pm

Yeah, I have the higher gain treble pickup, so I suppose the weak signal would not figure for me, unlike you lucky people with a 4001.
Bob: I like to boost some of the high mid anyway, it just seems to give my sound the extra roar and snarl. It's taken me a while, but I'm really homing in on a sound that is 'mine'. Full of the Rick 'flavour' but punchy and defined. It really adds to our band sound. We're a 3 piece rock band. The Ricky adds plenty of punch to the bass drum, and also duels with our guitarist's Gibson Les Paul. Suuuuuperbbbb!!!!!

captain_jetglo · Post by **captain_jetglo** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 2:22 pm

Ok, the stupid question of the day, what do you suggest to do? I like McCartney's sound in the Beatles era, I have a '75 4001s and sometimes I think I get the sound, sometimes not (a matter of equalization I suspect. Thank you

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 2:58 pm

McCartney sounds good no matter what bass he plays ... Ric, Hofner, Wal, Yamaha, etc ...

congerz83 · Post by **congerz83** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 2:59 pm

THANK YOU JEFF!!! TESTIFY!!!!

captain_jetglo · Post by **captain_jetglo** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 3:06 pm

Jeff I know that, I like how he sounds in every record with any bass. And the way he plays is grrreat. The thing is that I have a band and we play Beatles music, so I just want to get the Penny Lane sound to say something, I play Beatles songs with Ric or Hofner depending on wich record the song appeared, you know, just having a good time with my two ladies...

ram · Post by **ram** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 3:21 pm

I agree the purpose here is to play and have fun.

All the names we throw around here - McCartney, Lee, Squire and others.... would probably sound good on a washtub bass. When you got it you got it.

captain_jetglo · Post by **captain_jetglo** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 3:36 pm

Right, absolutely right!