Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

If it matters at all,,I think toasters just flat out look better.

cjj wrote:So, what I'm wondering is, since I've never had the pleasure to own a Rick bass with a toaster, does a current Toaster have a different sound than a Hi-gain and will it complement the (not necessarily different) sound of the RIHS in a modern 4003? Should I get a Toaster, or look into getting a Toaster cover and "unbuttoning" my Hi-gain?

I do think the sound is different but I wonder if it's a bit overblown sometimes. Maybe I just don't have refined ears for this sort of thing but, while I hear a difference, it is not necessarily as striking as I might have expected when swapping one pickup for another. I'm also thinking about this in terms of cost-benefit, in other words, $150 is a decent-sized chunk of cash... Thinking about it like that often sobers up my appetite for tone-questing. The most difference in tone I have ever seen with a Toaster is in the application of jazz, where I need deep even lows, and indeed, it delivered better than a Hi-Gain. In this case the Toaster was 6.8 k-ohms. Scott Pope helped me by installing two Toasters in my 4003FL and that was my main gigging bass for over a year. It still is now, but the Toasters reside in a 4001FL.

On the other hand when I played a 4001C64S the Toaster really struck me for its deep Ric growl. I think this was not only because it was a Toaster but also thanks to its 1/2'' spacing. I have swapped Toasters into the 1'' position before and not heard nearly as much difference. Granted, they do tend to sound deep and clear but I'm not as sure the differences are as stark as our descriptions make them out to be.

For what it's worth the RIHS in the 4001C64S reminded me of an overwound modern Hi-Gain in terms of tone. It "screamed". The Toaster was a nice complementary factor in the blend mode; together the two pickups sounded great, alone I only found the Toaster useful-sounding.

What I would recommend is playing around with your current configuration for a few months. I frequently regret jumping the gun every time I get a wild hair to try something new because so often I find it is not necessarily a waste of money, but rather just something I could have done fine without. I was recently gigging my dead stock 2007 4003 with a hip hop band and was really, really impressed with its sound, in spite of all of the constant tweaking I might do to my other basses. I love them all but I'm really happy I left the 4003 with its Hi-Gains (yes I did convert them to RWRP but this has no effect on tone).

I like the "hot" toasters, as I like to call them. I have them in the neck position of all 3 of my Rics (well, two came that way, the one on my S was added...) Deep and wooly as someone else said. I LOVE my Les Paul with Thunderbird pups, but I always miss that boomy low end I get out of the Ric. It's a great compliment to either a modern high gain, or RIHS.

The scatterwound ones are cool too. I had one matched with a 70's spec treble high gain with flats, and it was SWEET!

The main difference (and reason I like toasters) I hear between a standard current higain and a current scatterwound 7.4k toaster is the pitch clarity and delineation below A on the E string.

cheyenne wrote:If it matters at all,,I think toasters just flat out look better.

Yep! That's actually the reason I bought my first toasters; I had no idea what they sounded like, but the covers looked cool, so I ordered my guitar with toasters.