Cap Questions for Certain Ricky Basses

[fazeka]

Here's what I came up with, theoretically. It may be kinda lame, but what the hell. I can already see a lot of people making these kinds of faces:

You need a Switchcraft 13B jack to replace the one in your bass and a Switchcraft 297 plug to replace the one on your cable (instrument side).

Wire what was is now wired to the hot tab of the current jack to the ring tab of the new 13B jack. Similarly, wire what is now wired to the sleeve tab of the current jack to the sleeve tab of the new 13B jack. The 2 remaining tabs on the 13B jack function as a sort of SPST switch and go to either side of the cap.

Next, remove the plug off of one end of your instrument cable. Wire the hot (center conductor) to the 297 plug's tip and ring. The ground braid goes to the sleeve of the 297.

That's it.

So, when you want to hear the bass with the cap bypassed, insert the plug half-way into the jack (the plug's tip will engage with the jack's ring). When you want to hear the bass stock (i.e., with the cap in-circuit), plug the TRS plug all the way into the jack.

Disadvantages: If you lose your special cable? You're messed up, as the bass in this configuration will not be amplifiable with off-the-shelf cables. Also, the plug will be sticking out of the jack in "cap bypass" mode and won't be as solidly engaged if it were inserted all the way into the jack.

Caveat: I am not familiar enough with the wiring on Rickenbacker basses, so I may be off here (I have not tried this, I'm having too much fun playing it!).

[leftybass]

I absolutely love the tone of my '71 with the toaster and capped bridge pu combo!

+100. As a listening example--- If Chris Squire used the MG 21-fretter on 'The Yes Album', then it's capped high-gain and toaster all the way...that is the sound to love for sure...

[cjj]

Another problem with the output jack solution is that it would make using Ric-O-Sound pretty difficult, and that's the only way I've used my Rick basses for over 30 years.

Something along the lined of John's suggestion of a switch in the pickup cavity are what I've got in mind, just haven't found the perfect switch yet or figured out just how/where to mount it yet..

[fazeka]

Another problem with the output jack solution is that it would make using Ric-O-Sound pretty difficult, and that's the only way I've used my Rick basses for over 30 years.

Yeah, that proposal I came up with would be more of a problem on anything with ROS.

But I was thinking in terms of doing the mod to a 4001C64 (no ROS).

[Tarrbot]

A lot of times we discuss this bypass mod but is there a good reference (with pics) for doing this bypass (as in soldering across the cap).

I'm just curious as to if I've done mine right (sounds right but I'm a bit OCD sometimes and I have 2 caps in the cavity but only one bypassed).

[jps]

Here is a photo of my former FG '73 4001 with a red wire soldered across the .0047µ cap.

[Tarrbot]

Interesting. I guess I just bypassed the .047µf cap on the neck pickup.

I made a bad assumption that people were mislabeling the farad rating of the cap since there's only an extra zero in there--but that extra zero makes a huge difference.

I may leave it as is for now since it made my neck pickup sound a bit punchy where in the past I never used it because it sounded anemic to me. Now it's got some growl to it.

So, long story short. There are two to three caps on these basses. Two .047µf caps and sometimes one .0047µf cap.

Seriously, I don't know what I did to mine but for the moment, I like it. I may cut the wire out and desolder it later but for now it's staying.

[jps]

Up till the early '80s there were three caps, the two .047µF tone caps and the one .0047µF bass cut cap. At some point in the early '80s Rickenbacker dropped the bass cut cap.

[ig55]

I've been using a 4003 for the last 6 years. It was a 1995 and did not have the bass-cut cap on the bridge higain. I recently sold that one and got myself a 4001v63. It did not have the bass-cut cap on the HS pickup, either. I was always wondering what it sounds like with the 0.0047uF cap on, so I installed one yesterday. Now I can clearly see that it was there for a reason Without the cap, the sound with both pickups on was too boomy. It was also the case with the 4003 but not as boomy as the 4001v63. It's probably because the characteristic of the toaster PU, plus its position being closer to the neck... Now, with the bass-cut cap on, my 4001v63 sounds much more balanced in the low-end, plus it sounds much more authentic.

I also plan to buy the push/pull pot from the Ric boutique later, but it will be wired the opposite of the standard wiring, i.e. it'll bypass the cap when pulled up.

[weemac]

Heres a simple way to get the "capped" sound with control without changing pots etc.

Wire a 0.001uF (102) capacitor between the in and out of the treble volume pot. It works like thus:

At 10 all is as normal, but reducing the volume will lose the bass frequences a lot faster than the treble. With both pickups on and the treble volume at 7ish the "capped" sound will become aparent as most of the bass sound will be coming from the bass pickup and the treble will still shine through from the treble pickup.
However if you solo the treble pickup it does not sound much different from full volume. This is handy if you like the capped sound with both pickups but don't want a weak sounding treble pickup when soloed.
As you reduce the volume the sound will get thinner and thinner until the volume shuts off totally (where it should)
It is known in Telecasterland as a "Treble Bleed Capacitor" as it bleeds some treble frequencies past the volume pot...

I have used this method on at least 3 Rickenbackers and all of my Waterstone basses (plus a few others) It works great on Jazz basses too!

Eden.

[henry5]

Here's an interesting thing; my '72 has the cap in, and when I've switched the cap out it has made little difference even to my picky ears; it's thinner, but not by much. When I did the same to my old 76 (and the reverse to my CS) it was like night and day.

I'm assuming the '73 I recently got back from Paul has the cap in (I haven't checked yet). When I play that thing on its own it sounds a bit lacking, but in the band, wow! I've thought about taking the cap out of the equation but I'm just loving the sound too much at the moment.