Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

OK, so put in a .0012 uF cap (or whatever's closest) to compensate for the modern hi gain value and thereby get roughly the same RC value in the circuit.

You mean "tone pot" right?

Man, I gotta measure my 2004 4003 when I get home...

yep ... thanks ... I fixed the post ...

so if you want your 4003 to sound like a 4001 ... 8k ohm pickups, 500k ohm tone pots, and a .0047 bass cut capacitor will get it most of the way there ...

or crank the treble on your amp ...

OK - I know I need study all that. But to as they say "To Cut To The Quick" are you saying that the 4001 had a thinner sound than the 4003? That may be the start of what this is all about.

And yet - no comments on distance from P-U to string.

I will say this - you guys know your stuff.

- Ziggy -

"And yet - no comments on distance from P-U to string."

Very good point! This plays into output and tone also.

On most of my basses I like to get my pickups fairly close to the strings ... especially my Rickenbackers ... for me it just sounds better ...

yes the old ricks were more trebly sounding ... the old bass amps has less head room and the bass would often overpower the treble and the bass would sound muddy ... an old bass amp may have been 50 watts ... now days a good bass amp has 5 to 10 times that power and it has better cabinets and then we have better pa systems ... so we can get pretty much any frequency we want out of most basses ...

the old Rics were a good match for the old bass amps ... I think with a modern amp the 4003 is a better instrument ... but there are purists who prefer the vintage ...

I know a little bit about this stuff ... some of it I learned here, some from mistakes I made on my own basses, and some from other sources ...

Has anyone here tried taking the bridge pickup from a 70's 4001 and put it in a new modern standard 4003? (Pre-push pull tone option) It has the bite and tone of the vintage 70's, and high-output bass can be dialed in on top with the modern neck hi-gain. I did not add a cap though, as I feel it did not need it. I have also added a push-pull kit to my other Rick and it does get the right vintage tone. I think the new changes I've seen to the 4000 basses are really cool and a big plus! No more music stores in my area that sell Ricks (or that stay in business--internet sales & ebay I guess?) so I will probably never see one in the flesh to test drive, but the new 4003's do look nice.

I've owned a 70's 4001, and now I own a 4003, a C64 and a V63. As far as I'm concerned, you can get that famous Rick sound out of all three. I prefer mine de-capped though.(Great tone is in the ears of the beholder) But with the new tone circuit you can get just about any tone from a 4003. Rickenbacker basses for tone, looks, and just plain cool vibe, just can't be beat.

Here, here. I second the motion!!!!

I never played or seen a 4001 so I cannot comment about that one, but I own a 2003 Ric 4003FG. With roundwound strings and my Sansamp Bassdriver it goes in the direction of the Yes sound. But He, I do not own the hands of Chris - so difference there will be.

Nowadays I use D'Addario flatwounds chromes to have a more mellow sound say a bit vintage....

Oh, and I have all controls on 10!

a sans amp really brings out the Squire sound from a 4003/4001 bass ... but the negative of a sans amp is it doesn't have compression ...

No it hasn't have compression... But my Eden amp, where the Sansamp is going in has a compressor for the input signal - so that solves my problem. For what I read here on the forum it is very rare to play Eden amps.... But they kick ***!!!

I've been using a 320 watt Eden nemesis 2x12 combo with a sansamp rbi and a FMR RNC compressor in front and it sounds great and gets very loud.

What is the "Cap" thing - should I do that? What are the pros and cons?

Thanx,

- Ziggy -