Excellent....4004Cii Trans Green on it's way !!!!
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incubus2432
- Senior Member
- Posts: 4174
- Joined: Sat Jul 17, 2004 11:26 am
I was pleasantly surprised at practice last night at how nice the Cii sounded. My Laredo sounds very bright but the Cii has a slightly mellower tone that sits great in the mix. Nothing wrong with the Laredo....it just has more of a treble edge than the Cii. They are close enough in tone that I could play one all night for all of the songs my band plays but each does certain things better than the other. My LK and Ci are virtually the same tone wise and are even more low/midrange based than the Cii.
As a side note......I had to spend a few hours getting the Cii's nasty factory setup tweaked to my liking and when I was done I decided to mess with my other 4004's. I haven't really messed with the p/u height too much because of how they sit with the body (aesthetic reasons)......that was a mistake. Just raising them up an 1/8" or so to bring them as close to the strings as possible without being struck when I play hard has made a nice difference in tone. Primarily the "growl factor" has increased. The signature Ric clank is there as well if I want it. I wish I had tinkered with them earlier but better late than never.
edit......and yet another thing I have noticed since parting ways with my 4003's is how much my right hand technique has changed. I don't know if it is due to not having the rear p/u surround or the lack of the bound body (more comfortable, for me, contoured body) or what?!? What I do know is that now I find myself not resting my thumb, I'm altering right hand positions along the scale length, angling my plucking hand now and then where it used to be somewhat fixed before and just generally much more lively in my striking/plucking/whacking of the strings. That, I'm sure, has had much to do with the "better" tones I have been getting as well. It's kind of like I've snapped out of a rut or something and my playing has taken a big leap forward......I'm still a hack but a "new improved" hack!
As a side note......I had to spend a few hours getting the Cii's nasty factory setup tweaked to my liking and when I was done I decided to mess with my other 4004's. I haven't really messed with the p/u height too much because of how they sit with the body (aesthetic reasons)......that was a mistake. Just raising them up an 1/8" or so to bring them as close to the strings as possible without being struck when I play hard has made a nice difference in tone. Primarily the "growl factor" has increased. The signature Ric clank is there as well if I want it. I wish I had tinkered with them earlier but better late than never.
edit......and yet another thing I have noticed since parting ways with my 4003's is how much my right hand technique has changed. I don't know if it is due to not having the rear p/u surround or the lack of the bound body (more comfortable, for me, contoured body) or what?!? What I do know is that now I find myself not resting my thumb, I'm altering right hand positions along the scale length, angling my plucking hand now and then where it used to be somewhat fixed before and just generally much more lively in my striking/plucking/whacking of the strings. That, I'm sure, has had much to do with the "better" tones I have been getting as well. It's kind of like I've snapped out of a rut or something and my playing has taken a big leap forward......I'm still a hack but a "new improved" hack!
I know what you mean Brian. When I'm playing my LK or other non-RIC basses, I have much more movement in my right hand technique. With 4001/4003's I find myself anchoring my thumb on the bridge pickup (the cover is removed). I think this has to do with my perceived "obtrusiveness" of the bridge pickup surround. As much as I love 4001/4003's, that surround has always been the one feature that I'm not totally comfortable with. I've throught about the Pickguardian bridge surround refit, but I'm not sold on the aesthetics. I have a feeling that when my 4004cii BBR arrives, it will get a lot more action that my 4001/4003's.