Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

So Jeff, how do you set your EQ for your optimum Rick tone.??

Different Jeff, but for recording I use a Furman PQ-3 with about +5dB @ 3kHz with the bandwidth around 2:30, the mids flat and the bass +3dB @80Hz with the bandwidth about 2:00.

For gigging I season to taste and that varies depending on what amp and speaker combination I use at any particular venue. Generally however, I usually just cut the mids a little bit or run flat, that is usually with the Walter Woods and my Sunn 2-15 cabinet.

"I go to a lot of open jams ... they use the same amp for everybody ... when I play I re-adjust the EQ ... any player who plays after me sounds better ... most bass players and guitarists don't know how to set the eq right ...

it is not what sounds good in your house ... it is what sounds good when you play out ... you have to boost and cut the proper frequencies to sound good"



Preach on Mr. Rath, preach on!
I wanna buy you a beer someday.

anytime you come to michigan you can buy me a beer ... I'll even let you see my collection ...

My 2 cents on eq settings ...

First I run through a Line 6 bass pod with these settings ...



Then I usually set the volume like 4, bass 4 to 7, middle 4 to 7, and treble 4 to 7 ... and this is my eq ...

If you x-ray them, you'll find various pieces of lead embedded in different locations in some RIC 4001 necks made in the 70's. This would definitely affect sound.

In my "79 4001 I wired a SPDT switch in parallel with the treble cap to use it when I pleased. With my '73 I just didn't feel like putting a hole for the switch and I just substituted an insulated wire where the cap was.
I wouldn't add that treble cap to a Rick that doesn't have one. Rick basses were made like that years ago to help overcome the limitations of the frequency response of early bass amps. With the bass gear available now, you can dial in that classic sound on a new Rick.

In most cases I agree the cap sucks, although I've left it on my 72 (due to try it without soon though). Ilan, I've had experiences just like yours; on my 80 4001 (before it was stolen) I actually had the pickup rebuilt to compensate (it didn't really work). My 76 always sounded strangled, and I didn't find out about the cap until I tried a Seymour in the neck (it details it in the wiring instructions). With the cap removed, the bass instantly sounded twice as good.....

Ilan, I too sold my first Ric, a 77 4001 because of the cap (unbeknownst to me), I loved the bass and it sounded good alone but just didn't cut it with a band (at least the music I was playing). I always knew that there was something strange going on with them, but never would have dreamed of a cap in the treble pickup circuit. I was used to a P bass which has all kinds of midrange, then went to the Ric which was either all bass or all treble. And to me that cap makes them sound worse in small amps unless you want that real trebly sound, because small amps aren't capable of reproducing the extreme lows Rics can put out. I was able to get around the cap with my SVT but with smaller (1) 15" amps, forget it. With the SVT I used to use the ultra lo (cuts the 600 hz. drastically) and boost the lo mid, (220hz on an SVT) which made the eq much flatter, got rid of the mid scoop. Without the cap and especially with flatwounds I can plug without drastic eq changes into big and small amps and sound good. I also set up the bass with all the eq's set at 0. I usually do the same as Jeff though at jams and change the eq, but I ask first and then remember the settings and put it back where it was when I am done as the house bass player may have spent some time eq'ing for his own bass. (I'm not always that considerate.)
I have a switch in my 81 4003 and use the cap ocasionally, it changes the charactor of the bass a lot, it does as Sérgio says give it that unmistakable Ric sound. But I like the fullness I get when it's switched off, and it still sounds like an old Ric, this one has great pickups in it, both between 7 and 8K. This bass (actually is my 79's guts temporarily) sounded good with round wounds through my SVT, except that it sometimes almost ripped a hole in my ear from the treble.

I played with having a cap in mine for awhile, but it's just not right for the music I write. I need those focussed, throaty, growly lower mids that only a bridge-position pickup (in a Rickenbacker or otherwise) can really deliver to my liking. The cap greatly attenuates those frequencies.

Does anyone know if the 'c' series has the cap?

I have never played a C series bass ... none of the v series basses that I played had the cap ...

John .. you said you played one of the C series basses ... go back and play it again and flip the toggle switch to the bridge pickup ... then play it ... if you get a sound with all the bass and low mids eliminated then it has the cap ...

But I don't think Ric uses the cap anymore ... not for the last 25 years ...

I'll have to try that!

I know you would think with all the people here someone who owns one would have taken a look inside, I personally doubt it, don't they have old spec. pickups? 7.5K or something like that? Those will give that old trebly tone without a cap.