78´4001 Bass tone question

[lundefugl]

Hiya, I am new to this forum and the general Ric´o´munity. Hope I dont post something that has been discussed previously but after searching the forum for a while unsuccessfully I´ll take my chances:

I bought my first Ric 2 days ago, a flawless burgundyglo 4001 from feb 78. In the store it sounded as sweet as anything, on a nice amp/top setup. What I did not really try out too much were the Bass Tone/Volume knobs, because with all the different outputs and the pickup selector I got lost. Now, when I play I cannot hear any change to the sound when turning these 2 knobs, the bass tone and bass volume, except when using the uppermost (stereo) output for 2 of the switch settings (I am new to it and have not gotten to know all the terms yet ). The Treble Tone / Volume are always changing the sound, that´s why I am curious... In addition, I really feel that there is not very much bass in the sound. Now I know that the Ric´s generally do not have THAT striking bass punch, but the sound is like it is no bass tone at all.

So, my question is: On your similar type Ric´s, does the sound change when changing the Bass Tone / Bass Volume knobs on all "output & pickup" settings? Or is it like for me; only on a few of the combinations? Note that I played on a really ****** amp today, so the bass punch might be different when I find my way back to my PA. But still the sound should change when turning the knobs I´d assume...?

Thanks for your feedback on this.

Marius

[jps]

Welcome, Marius!

Are you plugging the cable into the mono jack? It sounds like the cable is in the Rick-O-Sound jack causing only the bridge pickup to be heard. Unless the jackplate has been physically turned around the mono jack is the one closest to the strap button.

[rickfan60]

Yes, that is good place to start. If that does not work there could be a problem with the jack itself. That is usually easy to fix as well.

[lundefugl]

Thanks for the response guys I plugged into both, but the mono jack was the only one where any change from adjusting the bass tone/volume controls could be heard (on the mid and uppermost flicker setting, i.e. the 2 closest to the strings). Just to make it clear, the sound itself was not bad for either jack or pickup setting. It just seemed that the bass tone was at the lowest level and not adjustable sort of... Should changes to the Bass Tone / Volume knob yield changes to the sound for all pickup/jack settings? Cause if so I need to talk to the guy I bought it from

[jps]

That is how it is supposed to work. The ROS jack is a stereo jack so you would need a stereo cable that splits the output to two separate 1/4" mono jacks at the amp end of it. The tip is the bridge pickup and the sleeve is the neck pickup. Unless you actually want to run the bass in stereo only use the mono output jack and everything will work as desired. To see what is going on try taking the cable and plug it in till the first 'click' of the ROS jack; in this position you will get only the neck pickup and the "effect" with the controls and the selector switch will be reversed to what you initially found with the cable plugged in all the way. In the first position the treble volume and tone controls will not work.

[ben_brown]

And another thing that may be confuzing you....The bass tone and treble tone controls are regular tone controls. They are not bass and treble controls...One is for the bass(neck)pup and the other is for the treble(bridge)pup. The controls work like the tone conrtrol on any other guitar or bass......basically a treble cut tone control. Turning up the bass tone will not increase the bass. Turning these controls clockwise will add treble to either pup they control and counterclockwise does just the opposite.

[johnallg]

It kinda sounds like either the pickup switch or the jack is not allowing correct pickup operation.

Welcome to the forum, and the 70s 4001 basses are tops in my book. Great buy.

[dminer]

"In addition, I really feel that there is not very much bass in the sound."
This might be irrelevent to your original question but, you will get a lot more bass from your bass if you bypass the .0047 cap. If it has already been done by a previous owner disregard this post...dm

[rickboy88]

Hello! I just wanted to put my 1 cent in about actually leaving in the 0.0047 uF capacitor to the "treble" pickup. Not trying to counter David, but I think it adds to that Ric "sound" personality, especially if you play with a pick. I found that the tone controls of my '98 4003 seemed to lack adjustment range until I added the cap in. During that period, the cap was not installed in new basses. Now you get it with the vintage tone push/pull knob on newer basses, but I don't think that the sound is quite vintage as the pickups have changed over the years.

The bottom line is that you should do what you want. You could try it out of the circuit and compare.

I have a 1982 4001S and a 1998 4003, and the newer 4003 definitely has more low end, but I still like the sound of the older 4001S (more clarity for lack of a better term). Rics from different times will sound different, which is why you can't just have one.

[lundefugl]

Again thanks alot guys for such constructive response, I (finally) get it now! Ben's clarification regarding which pup are regulated by which control helped a lot. Then I am thrilled over having a working instrument which is beautiful to play and sounds magic, I will just put some more output on the low end notes. I will not touch the capacitor, keeping the mid range ringing sound.

Today I will be playing it with a proper setup, looking forward to putting all the info provided in this thread into effect

[hieronymous]

And another thing that may be confuzing you....The bass tone and treble tone controls are regular tone controls. They are not bass and treble controls...One is for the bass(neck)pup and the other is for the treble(bridge)pup. The controls work like the tone conrtrol on any other guitar or bass......basically a treble cut tone control. Turning up the bass tone will not increase the bass. Turning these controls clockwise will add treble to either pup they control and counterclockwise does just the opposite.

Just a clarification - these are passive tone controls, so my understanding is that "0" (zero) is with everything turned up to 10 - turning things down then cuts either volume or treble, depending on the control. Active controls often offer both cut and boost, so zero would be somewhere in the middle (some have center indents, many don't). With passive controls I tend to leave everything on 10, except when I want to turn it off!

Part of the problem is Rickenbacker's use of "bass" and "treble" to refer to the neck and bridge pickups respectively. They do it on the controls and on the Rick-O-Sound box as well. Actually Alembic does as well. It's not a big deal, just somewhat misleading. So "Bass" = neck pickup and "Treble" = bridge pickup.

Have fun with the new bass!!!

[ben_brown]

And another thing that may be confuzing you....The bass tone and treble tone controls are regular tone controls. They are not bass and treble controls...One is for the bass(neck)pup and the other is for the treble(bridge)pup. The controls work like the tone conrtrol on any other guitar or bass......basically a treble cut tone control. Turning up the bass tone will not increase the bass. Turning these controls clockwise will add treble to either pup they control and counterclockwise does just the opposite.

Just a clarification - these are passive tone controls, so my understanding is that "0" (zero) is with everything turned up to 10 - turning things down then cuts either volume or treble, depending on the control. Active controls often offer both cut and boost, so zero would be somewhere in the middle (some have center indents, many don't). With passive controls I tend to leave everything on 10, except when I want to turn it off!

Part of the problem is Rickenbacker's use of "bass" and "treble" to refer to the neck and bridge pickups respectively. They do it on the controls and on the Rick-O-Sound box as well. Actually Alembic does as well. It's not a big deal, just somewhat misleading. So "Bass" = neck pickup and "Treble" = bridge pickup.

Have fun with the new bass!!!

I thought I said that!

[hieronymous]

Yeah, you did, and you said it well - in fact, I almost wasn't going to post. I actually only took issue with "turning these controls clockwise will add treble" since they only cut, but I should have left it at that...

[ben_brown]

Yeah, you did, and you said it well - in fact, I almost wasn't going to post. I actually only took issue with "turning these controls clockwise will add treble" since they only cut, but I should have left it at that...

Just kidding with ya!