Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Great bass player or not, that WAS a waste of a beautiful old, rare Rick. Ok, I know that there are alot of people out there who disagree with me, however why have a Rickenbacker 4001 or 4003 and then change the pickups? Isn't the distinctive tone the reason for having one of these jems? Why have one and make it sound like any other bass? Ok, I'm sorry. Enough ranting and raving.

There's more to a Ric and a Ric's tone than just the p/u's. I change the p/u's in my Rics to Bartolini replacements because they retain a stock look and add a little more lowend while keeping the character of the traditional Ric tone (IMO of course). They still sound like Rics. The great playability and wonderful looks can't be found elsewhere so some "minor tweaking" to get exactly what I want/need out of my instruments is in order.

Quality and playability goes without saying. That's a Rick trademark. You didn't destroy the instrument by using some kind of humbucker that would go on a Gibson, etc. Like you said, you believe Barts keep the traditional tone (I've heard that too). Heck, he might as well put Jazz bass or P-bass pickups in a Rick.

With all due respect to Brian, the one time I played a Rick with Barts it was missing that all important clank & growl. Granted it was not my bass (in fact is was actually once Mike Mills' of REM's)& I was in the studio, but it seemed all smoothed out & mellow...not enough of the 'edge' one normally associates with a Rick bass.

Of course that's just me though!

You lucky dog, you got to play Mike Millss' Rick? Actually, he had a couple. One was a stock jetglo 4001 and a few others. Which one did you get to play? All we have to do is find it, borrow it for a while and replace the barts with stock pickups. I envy you Chris!

I'm guessing that he had several...
This one had Barts, a Badass bridge & changed tuners. It was Jetglo & the studio had a "letter of authenticity" for what that is worth. The studio was halfway between Athens & Atlanta GA.
I posted a pic of me playing it somewhere on this forum awhile back.
It played real nice, but like I said - it was really smooth sounding. The song I ended up using it on turned out well, but I don't think that you'd listen to it & say "that's a Rick", if you know what I mean.

Chris, did the studio own the bass or was it still Mikes? I'd like to see the picture of you and that bass. I have a bunch of photos of Mike Mills with his different Ricks. None of them had barts at the time. I'd like to see if it is one of the Ricks I've seen him with. Is it under pictures of you playing your Rick?

I think it was some thread that got hijacked & ended up going into a whole different direction.
If you want I can scan it & send it to you later today. Plus, I have to make pictures SO SMALL to get them to fit on this forum.
And honestly I'm not sure if Mike did that or if the studio did. I think that it was done by Mike but I may be wrong.
Look for an email later this afternoon...and hey no jokes about my hair & clothes it was '94 for christs sake!

I promise not to say a word Chris. At that time I had a mullet. I at least had the scense to grow it all out. Now it's all long. So I don't have the right to say anything. Thanks Chris

Oh, BTW, Joey DeMaio loves the shape of Ricks, the construction, which he feels gives it a superior sound, and the neck (for obvious reasons); he just doesn't like the pickups. Lemmy doesn't either (well, he likes the humbuckers), although he likes everything else too. Both manage to keep strong elements of the Rick sound to varying degrees though(bearing in mind Joey's miniscule string gauge); I think there's more to Ricks than just the pickups, although they obviously contribute. I'm certainly not against changing your pickups to suit; it depends what you need as a player. Also I've played some Rick basses I thought sounded terrible, as well as some that sound unbelievable (more of the latter though!). It's each to their own ultimately.

Shaun, your right. To each his own. By the way, what pickups does Lemmy use? I'm curious because his Rick doesn't sound like a Rick.

In his signature model there are standard Ric humbuckers. I believe he runs his Ric through Marshall guitar heads which I'm sure has alot to do with his tone .

Chris D, sorry I haven't replied earlier, was out last night. As Brian correctly states, he now uses the Rick humbuckers in his Signature model. In the old days he put an original Gibson Thunderbird pickup in the neck position of his original 4000 thru-neck, his white 4001 had a DiMarzio Model 1 in the neck position, this was replaced by a "copy" T/bird pickup he had made (he also put one in his maple necked 4001); these were replaced by Bartolinis which he said he really liked(I don't know if he ever replaced the T/bird pickup in his original bass though), and then he went to the Signature model. He actually plays Marshall Superbass heads, but he once said anyone else would've scrapped them, which probably has a lot to do with his sound. He also has very unusual amp settings; he used to have all the middle, treble and presence full on, with the bass full off. I read recently that he now has the treble off as well and I think the presence on about half (not sure off the top of my head), but I don't know if that was correct or a misquote. He once described Rick pickups as sounding like "tin whistles", and is quoted a saying when the humbuckers came out, "they've finally made a good pickup"!

Thanks Shaun. Great info!

No probs Chris! He was my first (and biggest) influence....