Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

The best way to judge for yourself is to play as many of new & old basses as you can lay hands on.
Not the easy way, but lots of fun.

Personally, I like both new & old.

I'm assuming you've already done a fair bit of reading here.
Spend some more time reading. Granted, there's a LOT to absorb here, but this forum & the RIC corporate forum are probably the best sources for Rick related info in the world.

These folks are experts, & what one might be unclear on, another is well versed in.
I spent the first month poring through old posts related to my particular interests, then branched out to see a little of what I missed before.

After some time, you'll have a very good understanding about the subtle differences in trim, appointments, features, etc. that appeared from year to year. This should help you greatly in any future purchases.

There s quite a few changes that occurred over the years to both the 4001 & 4003 that make all the difference to some folks.

I'd like to get a 4000- I consider it a "cousin" to Fender's original design, the single coil precision bass. 1 tone, one volume, 1 single coil pickup. SImple, classic.

It's got an original voice, also.
Not really like a 4001 or 4001s with the bridge pup solo'd, but more in your face.
Not just fewer features, but a different bass altogether, like the 4004 is to the 4003: similar, but distinct.
It can be tamed with amp EQ, but it wants to bite!
Sort of like a hungry Rottweiler compared to an angry Doberman.

I like the 4001 because of his lower weight of some production years (73-75), also because the sound bite and the harmonics. Currently I changed the stock tail piece of my 4003 (tail lift!) to the AllParts Rick tail piece, better intonation, but...even less bite!?
I seriously consider the old 4001 tail piece as a "bite influencing parameter"!!!!

It's "horses for courses" Steve. The look, feel, sound, neck size, features, colour, mojo, etc. can be different from one bass to the next. You have to decide yourself what is right for you. If you want modern "handling" and vintage features you need to look at the v63 (not now available new) or c64 models. Take advice from other people but, in the end, the decision has to be from your own heart/ears/hands and eventually, your wallet.

Too each his own.......My Rathed - toastered-stack knob 4004 Cii Smokes my AutumnGlo 77 4001 . She is off to the bay at the end of December . I would like an S model someday though

When were the 330K pots started?

I think they came at the same time as the vintage tone circuit

Hey guys! Jeff is right! Use the 500k pots on the 4003 and you will get the vintage sound of the 4001. I checked it out last weekend and it worked perfect.
Thanx Jeff!

The old 4001 basses had the 250k ohm volume pots and the 500k ohm tone pots. This was a real big part of the 4001 sound. I tried an experiment on my old 1968 4001 years ago, I removed the .0047 capacitor and put in 4003 high gain pickups and it still had the distinctive 4001 sound because of the 500k ohm pots.

How tough is it to replace the tone pots? And what does it do to the value of your bass if you do it?

the pots are $5 parts that are easy to change if you have soldering skills ...

I have very basic soldering skills. Here's another question: Where does one get the pots?