Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Prowl wrote:What sort of strings were/are you using?

GHS Jazz Flats. Light guage. I hate bridge lift and these strings are taught enough with no pull. They sound really mellow right out of the package. Also only about $25. They sound even better after some playing time.

Thats actually what I'm using now on my 4003. I get a pretty cool tone when I use the bridge pickup, but when I used the neck pickup orboth togetherit sounds almost too mellow. Kind of weird. It'll just take some time to get used to. I love the way my bass plays likes now. It feels so much faster and its slightly lighter.

When both pickups are activated (switch in the middle), roll off the neck pickup volume a tad and listen to the growl come back. It's got something to do with frequency cut and I don't understand it really, but many here like to play with bridge pickup at 100% and neck pickup at about 90%. Give it a try.

Yep, that's the sweet spot for me. Something to do with comb filtering or some mumbo jumbo.

bassduke49 wrote:When both pickups are activated (switch in the middle), roll off the neck pickup volume a tad and listen to the growl come back. It's got something to do with frequency cut and I don't understand it really, but many here like to play with bridge pickup at 100% and neck pickup at about 90%. Give it a try.

Ah thanks for the tip. I never noticed it before with roundwound strings, or even on my 83 4003 when I used flats on that, but the 96 I notice it a lot. Weird though That I don't notice it at all when I use just the bridge or just the neck. Its a rarity anyway that I ever use them both at the same time.

FretlessOnly wrote:Yep, that's the sweet spot for me. Something to do with comb filtering or some mumbo jumbo.

No comb filtering if one has the .0047µf cap in place.

Jeff is right. Comb filtering is happening when the pickups are in phase only--with the cap in line, it won't take place, because the pickup phases are perpendicular. You should also be able to distinguish that "growl" with the pickups full on with the cap in line and dialing back the volume shouldn't change the sound as much.

This also explains why RWRP doesn't work with the cap in line.

If you take electrons out of an organic molecule and put 'em in a copper wire my brain shuts down. I do however, know what sounds good.

bassduke49 wrote:When both pickups are activated (switch in the middle), roll off the neck pickup volume a tad and listen to the growl come back. It's got something to do with frequency cut and I don't understand it really, but many here like to play with bridge pickup at 100% and neck pickup at about 90%. Give it a try.

Wow Paul, that's funny I just discovered that "sweet spot" myself a couple weeks ago. Execpt I go 50% on both tone knobs.

rickaddict wrote:That's funny! My C64S is among the least bright of my 4001/4003/4001RI basses. I think it's because it has 330K ohm tone pots and almost all of my others have 500K.

Do you have other Ricks Bryan, or just the C64 and C64S?

Very interesting about the tone pots. Now I am a little confused.

I currently own two C64 basses (FG & MG), and one C64S (Mid Blue). Just between the C64 and the C64S basses in comparrison, the C64S is much brighter.

Going a little broader, based on what I own, and for reasons beyond me, in comparrison to my other basses, (Fenders & the MM Stingray) my C64S is most definetely, the brightest sounding bass I own.

Prior to owning any Ric basses, I only played a couple 4003 basses. I do not recall the 4003 basses I played being as bright even. On the other hand, possibly at the time I was so excited to play a Ric I may have not noticed at the time.

I'm curious - what is the ohms measurement of the 330k pots in use now? The 250k pots I have in my Ricks measure around 186k ohms. If that difference tracks to the 330k ones, that would bring them close to the 250k originally designed.

They are similarly below spec, John, like just about any CTS pot I've ever measured. Usually high 200s.

I'm not that smart when it comes to this, but what does the difference in pots and ohms mean?

Prowl wrote:I'm not that smart when it comes to this, but what does the difference in pots and ohms mean?

More or less of a load on the pickup coil, and with a change in resistance a difference in the frequency of filtering. A higher ohm volume pot is a lighter load on the pickup and will be a little brighter than a lower ohm pot. Basically, in an easy explanation.

why oh why can I not find the pics of Paul's DA23 bass on this forum anymore? The images from The Beatles Gear book is what I'm looking for