Sound differences between 4001's?

anoukane · Post by **anoukane** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 8:44 pm

Right now I have a 4001 from December 1978. I feel it sounds kinda different than the early 1977 I've had.
How do the rics from '74/'75 compare to a late seventies Ric in sound? Any differences?

henry5 · Post by **henry5** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 12:41 am

Philip, pretty much every Ric I've ever had/played has sounded somewhat different IMHO, although I guess it could be argued that ones from similar periods may sound more similar. After saying that I've played several 72s (my "focus year" if you will) and most of them have sounded quite different to each other.

bassduke49 · Post by **bassduke49** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 2:38 am

Philip, where have you been? Good to see you back with us. Did you keep that Jetglo you bought from me?

anoukane · Post by **anoukane** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 2:53 am

I was travelling in Australia for half a year and I had the time of my life. I came back last wensday after a flight of 30 hours

I haven't got that Jetglo anymore, sorry

I prefer the sound and neck of a 4001, so I had to sell the Jetglo to buy a 4001.
It was a beautiful looking bass though..

rickaddict · Post by **rickaddict** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 1:01 pm

I'll bet its nice to be home, but also a bummer to be home. I had a similar travelling experience. Wow, do I want to do that again!

I'm with you on the 4001 vs. new 4003, BTW. Great basses, those new 4003's. Great job RIC, excellent value, excellent craftsmanship. But I sorta prefer the older ones in tone and feel.

ben_brown · Post by **ben_brown** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 5:55 pm

I agree...I bought a new '05 4003 and sold it because of the feel of the neck. I took that money and bought a '73. I love the feel of the earlier necks and I think the tone is much warmer and crisp!

shinynewtoy · Post by **shinynewtoy** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 6:43 pm

Amen, y'all. I've owned a '94, an '81 and a '77 in that order... the '77 kills both of the others, in every way possible.

Lindsay... if you're out there... you're the man!

rick_ovic · Post by **rick_ovic** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 7:52 pm

Hey Philip, You should have let us know that you were in town!

gray · Post by **gray** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 8:14 pm

I have a 77 4001 I got for $897 or so a year and a half ago, and it has the greatest feel and sound. I mean, I love my 04 4003JG with its thicker neck, and it's perfect for what I need for. It's bad and beautiful and everyone loves it. I couldn't bear to get rid of it. But my 77? MINE FOREVER. The feel and tone on this instrument can only be created by time, which is one of my favorite things about Ricks. Take care of them and they only get better. I don't prefer one OVER the other by ANY means because I need them both for different things. But my 77 4001 is such a killer bass, and I got it for what I consider a killer deal (I was LED to it, I swear)that I could never part with it at all. I knew it was mine the minute I saw it.

anoukane · Post by **anoukane** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 8:18 pm

Yeah I should have done that Darren.
Victoria is nice. The Great Ocean Road, especially the Loch Ard Gorge is very impressive.
I met some people from Victoria. I think they were from Philip Island.
Anyway all Ozzies are very friendly!

Some pics I took:

Loch Ard Gorge:

Kakadu National Park:

Litchfield:

Ulhuru:

Kings Canyon:

Sydney:

Jammin' on a ****** Precision, @Darling Harbour(Sydney):

86kubicki · Post by **86kubicki** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 11:27 pm

I have a number of 4001/4003's and quite honestly, the '77 is the best of the bunch. See - my dog agrees!

PS - the 4001 was unscathed - thankfully!

henry5 · Post by **henry5** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 8:44 am

To expand on my earlier post, my '72 4001 (pre-skunk) is my favourite of all the Rics I've ever owned/played. But I have to say beyond that, its generally a mixed bag. My old '76 (which I'm STILL babysitting, months on!) is a nice bass, but my '72, my '73 4000, and my CS all pretty much wipe the floor with it. A friend also has a 4003 (with the thick neck) which I prefer. My '80 (my first bass) wasn't a particularly good bass at all, and I'd have to say I've preferred pretty much all of the 4003s I've played to most of the later 4001s. I'm actually not that keen on the narrower 73(74?)-ish onwards neck. I much prefer the neck on my 72. And I find the tone of most of the later (i.e. skunk striped)basses a little nasal for my taste. In fact the 2 reasons I didn't buy Neil Brewer's (bassist for Druid) bass were that it was much heavier than mine and the tone was more nasal. It all comes down to personal taste though. I much prefer Squire's tone to Geddy Lee's (even though I like Geddy's) for the same reason; Geddy's tone is much more nasal to my ears.

rickenbrother · Post by **rickenbrother** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 10:48 am

Nice pics, Philip!

My '79 4001 has always been my favorite sounding 4 string Rick. The 4003 DCM might be changing my mind.

rickaddict · Post by **rickaddict** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 6:42 pm

Thanks for the photos, Philip. Australia rocks!

"The feel and tone on this instrument can only be created by time, which is one of my favorite things about Ricks. Take care of them and they only get better."

Well, Robert...I have to agree with you that 70's Ricks have a great feel and tone, but I don't think my first Rick that I bought over 25 years ago got any better with time. Its a fantastic feeling and sounding bass, but its the same as it was the first time I played it as best I can tell. My 70's 4001s sound different than my 80's 4003s, which sound different from my 2006 4003, but I'm not believing that the aging of the wood has much to do with it. I think they were made differently and that's why they sound and feel different: Different windings on the pickups, different truss rod system and neck mass, different values on the tone pots, and if you haven't bypassed it yet...the bass-cut capacitor.

Just my $.02, not really meaning to be argumentative!

heinpete · Post by **heinpete** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 9:46 pm

Most of the sound differences are due to the changes in kOhms of the pots rather than of the wood, IMO, which contributes only nuances. I once had the chance to compare my current 1974 4001 (250k pots) to a 1978 4001 with same pots, only a very little difference. Also the difference to my 1997 4003FG disappeared when I installed the circuit with the 1978 250k pots in it, although it had the newer high gain PUs. So all that proves, that the most important factor is the pots kOhms. My finding is in line with the experience of Jeff Rath.