4003 British Racing Green limited run

[henry5]

Hi all,

One of the few modern Rics I’ve been interested in is the British Racing Green 4003 limited run. I did play one in a store back in 2018 (IIRC) but it was through a terrible cheap amp. It felt pretty nice, a bit weightier than my ‘72s, similar neck profile but a bit chunkier, but it was difficult to get a handle on the sound due to the amp. I seem to remember the neck pickup was relatively quiet (the neck pickup seems to be the dominant one on my old basses). Has anyone here got one? I was wondering about what it’s like in the real world.

[Korladis]

Did your old basses have the cap? It makes the bridge pickup a lot quieter in comparison to the neck pickup. The bridge pickup is also wound a bit hotter on the newer basses (though for a while now they've also had the capacitor on a push/pull control).

[henry5]

I always bypass the cap on any basses that have it. What I’ve typically found with more recent (relatively speaking) 4003 basses with the 1” spacing neck pickup is that the neck pickup is relatively underpowered compared to the bridge pickup, relative to my old basses. With the older basses, particularly those with the 1/2” toaster, the neck pickup tends to dominate, or at worst is about level, even with the cap bypassed.

Now although I’ve played a lot of 4003 basses, I haven’t owned any apart from a 4003s8; obviously the fingerboard sits higher than in the vintage basses so it’s possible that you can adjust the neck pickup height to compensate, up to a point. I haven’t been able to adjust the pickup height in those I’ve played in shops etc. But the bridge pickup always seems to dominate, and I must admit the 1/2” toaster on older basses is a big part of my sound.