Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

And I love it.

I can get clank out of my 4003 when I want it, and I can get boom out of it too. A lot of times without having to adjust anything but how I attack the strings with my right hand fingers.

I get some clank only when I turn my amp's volume way up, which is not too often.

It could get pretty boomy, too.

I get clank out of a 4001 with cap bypassed and TI's on it. It is the way I play it with my fingers, if I pluck hard it's there, if I back off it mellows down. I don't try for that sound, it's just when I am playing hard and loud.
This 4001 is very trebly even with the cap bypassed, after all the cap does not increase treble it just decreases some mid and a lot of bass, which results in more treble because the pickup is turned up louder, it is a high pass filter, or a low cut filter, both are the same thing. the lower the frequency the more cut in volume, at the treble frequencies it passes everything. this is much more pronounced in the early 70's basses, at least the ones I've owned.
the treble Pup's in my early 70's basses were very tinny sounding with the cap, even my 72 4001FL.
BTW that is what tweeters use in most hifi speakers for crossovers to keep the bass out of them.

To bypass or not to bypass...

bypass

I like sound of the capped bridge pickup - i like having one bassy and one trebly pickup - thats neat and sounds good, but the drop in output ruins it.

I have a bypass switch on my '73 4001 and when switching between the cap or no cap I don't find any drastic drop in volume at all, why does yours drop so much? Switching in the wire bypass just beefs up the bottom end.

Yeah the sound should get more solid, I think a lot of people perceive that as a drop in volume though, or maybe the treble pickup is high. Another thing I've noticed is that with a smaller amp that doesn't have good bottom, when you bridge the cap there is a noticeable increase in volume because these amps just can't recreate the good deep bottom end that a Ric bass is capable of, but are capable of reproducing the increased low mid that you get when you bridge the cap.
I really experienced this in Peru last year when I was using an 8 watt antique open backed radio with an 8" speaker in it for my bass. I just couldn't get any real bottom out of it and it sounded very thin, when I bridged the cap the "amp" came alive, it sounded full like it should. It sounded just like one of those old 60's bass amps where everyone played way up on the neck with them because they got louder as you went up, kind of McCartneyish sounding, great for the high boomy notes he used to do. But I couldn't get that with that stupid cap in there, (sorry Sergio). If I could figure out some way to put a switch in without ruining the pickguard I would do that, and I also want the ric-o-sound working as well.
The pickup isn't less trebly it's actually full range. My 4001's are just as trebly as they always were, they just have more body to the sound now.

Well - the only capped 4001 ive played was a white '75 in a store. I plugged it into an amp that i cant remember what it was but it was like solid state 100w with a single 15". - turned up enough to get a full bass sound

The neck pickup sounded full on - just like any 4003 - but the bridge pickup was just a twang sound, and was as if the treble volume control was on half (it was not tho) It was hardly even present with the switch set to the middle.

That is the way they are with the switch in the middle with both volumes on full, if you back off the bass volume the treble pickup gets louder at the same time the bass pickup gets softer. My early 70's 4001's were both like that. All you get with the cap is a treble twang, especially with both volumes on full.
See how your 73 is when you get it, it will probably be similar, that is why I bypass the caps. It cuts out most of the pickups mid and bottom, leaving a treble twang and a deep bottom from the bass pickup, that's ok if you have a big amp or like a real trebly sound to your bass, but if you are going to play anything modern most likely you will need a fuller sound. I like the 4001's most for loud fast rock n roll, but I still bypass the cap for them, even the later 70's ones which seem to let more mid and bass through (volume to most people)

What all that means is you are right Owen. LOL

Hm... Like I said many months ago, what most of you 'bypassers' are trying to address by doing away with the .0047 cap is a low output issue, not a tone issue, right?
If I had the time and the drive I'd supply every one of you with a hot treble pickup of my own for you to install on your 4001/4003 basses. I've modified thusly my Ricks. Now they're the baddest 4001s on Earth, sounding like a bona fide Rickenbacker bass should. Long live the cap, haha!

Amen Sergio!

Sergio - wouldnt a hotter pickup result in my bass, less treble, and the cap would cut all the bass leaving sound than a normal 4001 pickup

maybe im confused here so if you can put me right,,,,,