Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I got it off of e-bay .... I was hoping ups would have it here today ....

it is one of the older ones ... sleek black ... chrome trim ... maple neck ...

Jeff, it sounds like you got a similar bass like mine. I have a very early model 4004L made in June 93. The neck pickup is literally that, smack up against the neck. It has "big bottom" to say the least. Still, it does not sound muddy like a Gibson bass does.

Mine had only a tiny chip near the input jack. The rest of the finish is flawless. It looks much better "in the flesh" than in the photos. The Jetglo finish reflects like black chrome, and contrasts nicely with the chrome hardware. The maple neck contrasts nicely with the black color. I wouldn't give a penny more for a 4004C.

My 1993 4004C has the neck pickup right up against the neck and it isn't muddy in the least. Not at all like my old Gibson EB-0L. That's because the Gibson neck HB has 25,000 total winds.

I had one of them gibson eb0 basses ... there was no way to get any mid punch or treble bite out of that bass ..... the tone knob was useless on that bass ... the only tone was deep and bassy ....

I was a big Jack Bruce fan when I first took up the bass, and when I could afford it, I bought a used Gibson EB-3. That thing was such a mud machine, nothing but thud. That was before I sat down with "Yessongs" and got enlightened by Chris Squire. Not long after that, that EB-3 was part of my down payment for a '73 Rick!

Dave, Jeff and Gene:
You are right about the G****n EB series bass sound. That damn neck humbucker had an ohm rating close to 30.0! On top of that, there was some sort of huge resistor fitted in line therewith to make it sound even muddier. I own a totally stock 1969 EB-3 with just such a pickup and wiring arrangement. To avoid modifying it, I only use the bridge pickup thereon.

I think Jack Bruce had one of the worst bass sounds ever recorded, for a major star. I've heard talk that he used distortion on top of it all. Plus I always felt he was competing with E.C. during solos.
Same for me and Squire...heard and saw a 4001, that's all she wrote (was unaware Mac had been using one for years). Ran down to GC in Hollywood and put a used JG on layaway. It was on layaway so long, they were getting p.o.'d at me. Finally got it, put round wound roto sounds on it (ouch) and bought Herco picks (read somewhere Squire used both). Only thing I couldn't do was run it through a coupla Fender guitar amps, as I'd read he was doing at the time (talk about trebly!). Sold it for rent money a few years later. Sold it at such a low price, the guy made me sign a paper swearing it wasn't hot. It was probably a late '60's model.

You wanna sound trebly? Get a Rickenbacker amp. 'Some things are just made for each other', to quote a 1981 RIC amp leaflet. My 4001s sound incredible through my TR35B. Though not the boomiest-sounding (in spite of its massive 15" speaker) portable bass amp I've ever heard, I feel it's the best to go with a Rick bass.

Jack Bruce used EB-3's with Marshalls, this was 1967, 68, most amps sucked back then for bass,(so did PA's) you needed something to compete with the guitar players volume, and distortion fit the bill. Most of the great rock bass players used distortion (fuzz boxes) in the sixties. Another great 60's rock player was Tim Bogart (Vanilla Fudge) who also used a fuzzbox, McCartney also did here and there. You can learn a lot listening to the various 60's pioneers of electric bass. You can hear Jack pluck his EB-3 a few times and then turn on his fuzzbox between songs on Live Cream II, without the distortion his sound was very clean. I still hear distortion today on various records.

Didn't Jack Bruce use 3 or 4 Marshall heads in series for live gigs?

Sergio, I just measured, my EB-0L 'bucker checks in at 28.8K.

Well just got back from Germany and figured I’d check in. I’ve got a feeling that June will be my lucky month. It has now been 446 days. Will my bass arrive in June? Wonder what series is currently in the workshop?

Andy I sympathize for you , exactly what finish did you order? and can you send pics when you finally get it? Im rooting for you!

Hey Scott, Thanks I appreciated the support!
The finish is natural. I’m a natural kind of guy. All my basses are nat. with the exception of my 4003 JG which is mint and I’ll probably sell this bass. It’s being neglected (not being played). I have an 85 4001V63 which I love and can only imagine that the playing time of the 4003 will only become less after the 4004 arrives.

I will certainly post pics along with a review upon its arrival.

Cheers!

By now you guys are probably sick of hearing from me about this but I just have to vent.

It is now 479 days, they’ve changed the headstock from walnut wings to all natural and now they’ve decided to closedown for a week. I guess JH is OK with the backlog that he has.

I’ve been looking at the updated pic of the 4004 Cii on the Rick site and I have to say that I’m getting use to it – actually I’m beginning to like it. The unfortunate thing is I’m actually beginning to consider canceling the F’en order. Excuse my language, but there’s a lot of frustration here.

When I spoke to Rickenbacker today they told me the wait was somewhere around 10 – 12 months for this bass. When I told them this bass was ordered in March of 2002 they said Oh! Call me by in two weeks.

Just needed someone to listen to me. My wife is sick of it as you could imagine.

Happy 4th to those that are celebrating!

Cheers!

Happy 4th of July Andy!

I'm rooting for you too!