Would these pup replacements solve my 4003 pup noise?

[lumgimfong]

Anyone have experience or heard feedback about these drop in pups for 4000 series basses?

http://jbepickups.com/r-4000-2/

These look like they would work with pup cover/treble bezels, too.


I don't want duncans as I think they cannot be used with treble bezel or stock pup cover.

[cheyenne]

Lots of buzz about these over at the talkbass site. They're supposed to be great pickups from what I here. I think Joe Barden wound the pickups that Chris Squire used in his green Mouradian.

[aceonbass]

I don't have any noise issues with my single coil Ricks, but if you do, then try Rickenbacker HB1 humbuckers. They're dead quiet with a very meaty tone. with the proper electronics, they can sound very close in brightness to RIC single coils.

[Gilmourisgod]

Haven't read any reviews or heard any soundclips on those. A lot of Ric players like the Classic Amplification Ric replacement pickups, better built overall, and they will custom-wind them to your preference.
http://www.classicamplification.net/pu/cr.html

Dane,
Speaking of HB-1's, what kind of electronics setup would you use to get that more trebly bite?

[aceonbass]

I'd use 500K pots all around with .022-.033uF tone caps. I'd also use push-pull pots for the tone controls to enable coil splitting to get that classic single coil clank when needed.

[Gilmourisgod]

I assume you make such a harness for HB-1's??

[Badanovski]

The JBE pickups are dead quiet & sound great. With the HB-1's it depends on the sound you're after. While a lot of people love them, I hated them. I found them to be midrange heavy & light on the highs. I tried Dane's pot & cap values & while closer to what I wanted, still didn't get there. I did find however with the JBE's I lost a little of the under 50hz lows. I usually end up using a highpass filter when recording so it didn't bother me. If you like that old school, precision thump, the HB-1's are cheaper & will get you there in spades.

[lumgimfong]

So the JBE sounds closest to the higains?


Anyone got any HBI vs. JBE sound clips of vids?

[aceonbass]

I assume you make such a harness for HB-1's??

I do. I've done quite a few harnesses to retrofit HB1's to 4001/3's, as well as V/V/T and B/V/T harnesses to correct the dull sounding factory wiring in 4004's. Coil shorting these really brightens up the tone, while delivering a somewhat less full sound, and a bit of hum.

[Isaac]

Far be it from me to argue with Dane, and I'm not going to start now!

I changed the volume pot on my 4004Cii to 500K, and the difference was amazing. I can't say how the HB1 pups compare to high gains, mainly because I haven't ever put round wounds on my Cheyenne. But it had a dull sound with flats that was only partially improved by going to half rounds. Going to 500K really opened up the sound. I haven't changed the tone pot, and I'm not sure that I need to, but the cap isn't right, complicated by the fact that I usually use the pups single coil. Weird, I know.

[flognoth]

[quote="Gilmourisgod"]A lot of Ric players like the Classic Amplification Ric replacement pickups, better built overall, and they will custom-wind them to your preference.
http://www.classicamplification.net/pu/cr.html/quote]

These are what I have in my 4003. They sounds great. You can get the neck pickup RWRP. That resolves the hum issue if you're playing through both pickups.

[Isaac]

To give an answer to the original question, I'd say yes, those pickups would almost surely take care of your noise problem. After all, that's what humbuckers are for. How much they'd sound like a stock Ric, I can't say, having never tried those pickups. I will say that I have four Rics with humbuckers: a 4004Cii, a 4003 with Alembic electronics, a 4001 with Bartolinis and a 4000 with Seymour Duncans. All sound different, none sound quite like stock Rics (neither my 70s 4001 nor my 2016 4003W). I like them all, and like the differences. I love Rics mainly for the way they play. While I love the sound as well, I don't buy into the idea that there is only one "Ric sound".