Allow me to introduce myself

highway_star · Post by **highway_star** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 2:26 pm

I'm new to this forum, having found it doing a Google search. I'm a 44-year-old father of two and live in the Fairfax, VA area since 2002. My wife and I are both research analysts and Army Reservists. She is currently deployed to Iraq.

I purchased a new Fireglo 4003 yesterday after trying out several other basses, namely the Fender Jazz Bass line. J-Basses work better with my short fingers, but I didn't have too many difficulties playing the Ric and the variety of tones was the main attraction. Besides, it doesn't hurt to use the same bass as some of my favorite bassists (Roger Glover, Chris Squire, Geddy Lee and Paul McCartney). My tastes in rock music go to the 70's era, especially Deep Purple. That should be fairly obvious by my user name. My other musical favorites include classical and bluegrass.

I'm looking to see what others here have found useful in their Ric setups, etc. My current rig is my friend's Eden WT-400 head and Avatar 2x10" cabinet. I plan on adding a 15" cabinet later.

ken_j · Post by **ken_j** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 2:58 pm

Ron, welcome to the Rick forum. You'll find alot of useful info here. Can you post a pic of your 4003? Thank you both for helping keep us all safe.

bosco64 · Post by **bosco64** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 3:21 pm

Hi Ron,

This is another Ron. I live in Manassas, but in less in three weeks, the wife and I are moving to Haymarket. Where did you get your Fireglo 4003? Oh, and welcome to the Forum! Lots of great people around here, and the institutional knowledge among the members is amazing.

jps · Post by **jps** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 4:03 pm

Hi Ron. Welcome to the best forum on the net! I know you from the FDP. Unlike that forum you will always be treated with respect here, right guys and gals? (Well, most of the time anyway!) I too have a Jazz Bass, an AV '62 Jazz Bass, but my Ricks are my first love, all four of them with another on the way. I have a '67 4005WB JG, '73 4001 FG, '03 4004Cii MG, '02 660/12 MG and a 4003FL MG (year uknown at press time) on it's way here as we speak. Over the years I have used so many different amp and speaker combinations I can't remember them all, but they all sounded good with the Ricks. Currently I have a Walter Woods Super Hi Power amp (650 watts rms @ 4 Ohms) driving a variety of speakers: a custom made 1-10 EV cabinet, SWR Bass Monitor 12, Traynor YS-15 and a Sunn Sorado with Eminence Delta 15s in it. I also have an Ampeg PB-250 when I want something different. Lately I have been using my SWR Baby Bue II combo amp, by itself or with the 1-10 EV cabinet. The only effect I use is an Aphex Punch Factory compressor. For the 660/12 I use a Mesa/Boogie Dual Caliper DC-2 combo amp.

My tastes also run into the late '60s and into the '70s, my favorite bassists from that era being Chris Squire, Jon Camp, Michael Rutherford and Geddy Lee. Maybe that's why I love Rickenbackers, just by chance (?) they all used them, too!

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 4:05 pm

Hey Ron ... God Bless our troops ... and you like Ric basses too ... man you are OK ...

The only thing wrong with new Rics is that sometimes that action is too high ... but with a good setup you have an awesome bass ...

cheyenne · Post by **cheyenne** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 4:22 pm

Welcome Ron, I hope your wife is well in Iraq. Ricks are great, but like Jeff said, they all need tweaking for your own personal taste. My Ricks are some of the best playing basses I've ever owned.

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 4:31 pm

Ron,
Welcome to the Forum. I hope you have a lot of fun and find a lot of information here!
As far as my rig goes, it is ever-changing. But as of last week, it is now all Gallien-Krueger. I am running a GK 400RBIII head with 2 GK 4-10 Cabinets. I was worried that it wouldnt have the bottom end without the 15 I was using, but it ROCKS! I also use an Alesis compressor and Midiverb III for effects. I play my '73 4001MG thru it, as well as a Hamer 12 string bass and an Ibanez 5 string for certain songs.
See Photo

(Imagine the 15" cab replaced with another GK 4-10.)

highway_star · Post by **highway_star** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 5:07 pm

I purchased my Ric at Washington Music. I won an American Standard J-Bass last week on Ebay, played it for a few days and everything was fine. Well on the way from a train show in Timonium, MD yesterday, I decided to stop by Chuck's because one saleman had been talking up the Geddy Lee J-Bass. I pulled a Mapleglo 4003 off the wall while he got the Lee bass out of the stockroom. I was enjoying the Ric so much that I only played a few notes on the Lee bass and put it away. I then compared the Ric to an American Series J-Bass and still liked the Ric better, so I decided to buy it. I was all set to get the Mapleglo when the salesman brought up the Fireglo to put on display and I liked it a lot more. I was never a Fireglo fan, but it seemed like this one had more red to it. Now I'm debating whether or not to sell my J-Bass.

I noticed the action on the bass is a bit high, so I'm going to run it into Chuck's in a few weeks and have it lowered. I want to get the neck pickup raised to balance the output with the bridge.

I think the only other thing I'm debating is my amp head. I'm using an Eden WT-400 right now, but I was using an Ampeg SVT-3 at Chuck's and I think I like that sound better. I'm going to take a day to A/B them and decide.

jps · Post by **jps** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 5:31 pm

Here is my FG 4001:

jps · Post by **jps** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 5:36 pm

And here is my WW amp in it's rack mode:

bosco64 · Post by **bosco64** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 5:52 pm

Ron,

Chuck Levin's is a pretty decent place, I got my Fender American Deluxe Jazz Bass there. I work in College Park, so I stop by Chuck's at least once a month. You sure made the right choice with the Rick compared to the Geddy Lee Jazz. I played one of those at Mars Music (when they were still around), and I wasn't all that impressed with it. You sure won't be disappointed with your 4003, I guarantee it!

jblakey · Post by **jblakey** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 6:54 pm

I am a big fan of using rackmount poweramp/s with separate preamp/s. The cost is comparable to a quality bass head or amp. If you use a 2 channel poweramp you can play your Rick at it's full potential by using the Ric-O-Sound option.. provided the preamp is two channel as well.. or use two preamps..one for each pickup.. and since you are already planning on adding a 15.. well you are heading in that direction anyway.. why not run your bass p/u to the 15 and treb to the 10's in Ric-O-Sound mode?! + the component system as I describe allows you to "fine tune" your rig to your liking.. if you like something about your sound and something else is not quite right you can mix and match different preamps for YOUR sound. For a nice club setup you could have your cabs and a small rack... without the weight of two separate amps for R-O-S... in fact it would probably be about the same weight and cost as a "traditional" setup.

jblakey · Post by **jblakey** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 7:01 pm

BTW if you come to really like your sound but later need a more powerful rig.. just switch out (or add)a poweramp.. and your sound remains intact.

thx1955 · Post by **thx1955** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 10:28 pm

Hi Ron, welcome to the Forum, as has been said this is a fantastic place with a huge depth of knowledge on all things Rickenbacker.

I've been a Rick fan as long as I can remember, and Fireglo is by far my favourite Rick colour. I've a 97 4003 in Fireglo, and just recently got a 4001-V63 re-issue in Fireglo as well.

Like you I play through an Avatar cab, and love it. Started out as a guitar 4x12, and I had Dave at Avatar fit Emenince Kappa Pro 12's to it. It's powered by a 1969 Ampeg B-25, and since the Ampeg has twin channels I get to use my 4003 in Ric-O-Sound.

I hope like me, you enjoy your time here at the forum, great bunch of freindly and knowledgeable Rick owners and players.

henny · Post by **henny** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 2:12 am

Hiya Ron.

Hell, this place is a haven for Rons.

Welcome to the forum.