Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

lumgimfong wrote:So the hb1 is used in both guitars and basses? Are they the same?

Yes. They are a dual rail pickup that will work on anything with string spacing not exceeding 62mm.

Welp...I can't shut it up. Too much noise. Both at home and church. I can hear the buzz through the massive subs in the auditorium and I don't like that.

I am convinced it is just single coil noise that is unremoveable for whatever reason.

I plugged in my strat, and it also buzzes like crazy in the 1,3,5 selector positions - confirming SC noise. My split coil precision is silent at home and church- confirming humbuckers should work to eliminate the noise.

I tried everything possible, jumped through as many hoops as I could stand to no avail. Shielded everything and continuity all over the place, eliminated possible ground loops wherever I could. Could not find a spot to ground a jumper on that eliminated the noise. The closest I got was to eliminating the loudest buzz (rrrrreeeeeee). But the bass lost all high end and I could still hear what I guess is the leftover 60 cycle hum (hhhhmmmmmmm). Like the bass had two levels of noise - loud rrrrreeeee and soft hhhhmmmmmmm.

Onward to humbuckers. I hope that fixes the problem, because I love the bass.

The HB-1s are eerily silent; just put those in first and see if you are happy with them, before swapping anything else. You need to hear the pickups first as that is all that may be needed to get you where you want/need to be. You should have bought a 4004 model in the first place instead of the 4003 you have given your sensitivity oi pickup noise.

Thanks for all the help and input folks. I guess I have been spoiled by the silence of my fender split coil in my Percision all these previous years before playing a Rickenbacker!
But I love the ric as it is super punchy!

Another option instead of changing pickups would be to use a noise gate. I use an ISP Decimation II with great success. One benefit is that I don't have to change pickups in EVERY bass that I have with single coil pups. YMMV,

--jack

JackTheRipper wrote:Another option instead of changing pickups would be to use a noise gate. --jack

Or do both . . . HB1 AND a noise gate.

I like to cure it at the source, Plus , sounds like you can still get bright ric tone out of the HB1's::


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfqjUxwVjIk

lumgimfong wrote:...sounds like you can still get bright ric tone out of the HB1's...

Very much so, no need for changing anything out, like wiring harnesses, pots, anything. I have had a Cii, and three Laredos, of which I still have two of them.

jps wrote:

lumgimfong wrote:...sounds like you can still get bright ric tone out of the HB1's...

Very much so, no need for changing anything out, like wiring harnesses, pots, anything. I have had a Cii, and three Laredos, of which I still have two of them.

While it's certainly possible to get a good tone out of HB1's with the stock electronics, the tone will not be as clear or bright with the 175K-330K pots and .047 cap that RIC uses. If you've got the controls dimed on your bass, then you're not getting everything you can out of the tone.

aceonbass wrote:

jps wrote:

lumgimfong wrote:...sounds like you can still get bright ric tone out of the HB1's...

Very much so, no need for changing anything out, like wiring harnesses, pots, anything. I have had a Cii, and three Laredos, of which I still have two of them.

While it's certainly possible to get a good tone out of HB1's with the stock electronics, the tone will not be as clear or bright with the 175K-330K pots and .047 cap that RIC uses. If you've got the controls dimed on your bass, then you're not getting everything you can out of the tone.

Tone is in the ear of the beholder. I think Michael should do his mods one step at a time and assess what it does instead of changing everything out at once. My 4004L with its stock HB-1s and harness have tons of brightness to it, I wouldn't want more than it already has.

aceonbass wrote:RIC uses the same tone caps and out of spec pots in EVERY SINGLE INSTRUMENT they make, unfortunately, so a new 4004 harness will make ZERO difference in the tone if used with a 4004 pickup.

I find this interesting, and not just for Rickenbacker, that even (what I consider) expensive instruments use low tolerance pots. How much more would it really add to the cost to use pots with a tighter tolerance?

I used a HB1 to replace a dead treble pickup in my 4001, and it is a great pickup. I did recently swap the leads since I had them reversed (why make your own pickups in house and then make them out of phase with each other?? ) and I've been really happy with it.

I'm going to be installing humbuckers into one of my 4003's on Monday. Not putting in HB1's but I'll let you know how it works out for me.

rickenbastard wrote:I'm going to be installing humbuckers into one of my 4003's on Monday. Not putting in HB1's but I'll let you know how it works out for me.

Bardens?

I have Seymour Duncans in my 4000 and Bartolinis in my BG 4001. I like the Barts. The SDs are merely okay.

jps wrote:

rickenbastard wrote:I'm going to be installing humbuckers into one of my 4003's on Monday. Not putting in HB1's but I'll let you know how it works out for me.

Bardens?

I had custom Avedissians wound for me. Installed them tonight. It was a real task getting the screws out of the back of the magnet from the mounting plate for the bridge pickup. The cover used for the bridge pickup was threaded like a hi-gain neck pickup and the screw that fit is a #4-40. You'll need a nut on the opposite end. He used the original pickup cover for the neck. Once I actually got them in they worked and drastically improved my tone while reducing noise. They're also very balanced volume between them