Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Everybody loves a happy ending! Great news!

Very cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not a bass player, but wouldn't you want the neck pickup available... just in case??

egosheep wrote:I'm not a bass player, but wouldn't you want the neck pickup available... just in case??

Nope.

Seriously though, one of the things that drew me to the 4003 way back when was that it was set up like a guitar, with a pickup selector. But when my 4003's neck pickup randomly stopped working before a gig many years ago (thanks in part I'm sure to my hack soldering technique), I never looked back. Even when I was channeling McCartney in the studio, I always found that the 4003's bridge pickup had so much more punch, and could therefore approximate that sound far better (without the aid of expensive tube compressors). Using a Stingray over the last few years has only further reinforced this.

I'm a rock bass player - I really need only one good sound. I'm sure many of the Precision and Stingray players over the years would agree.

All the rics i end up keepin' have the pickups a-creepin' (towards the bridge,that is...)
And probably,the 4000 with the 70's higain,has the purest tone-easy to dial in a great sound with the markbass/VT pedal. I am really enjoying the V57 4002 or whatever you wanna call my latest purchase,with the rear pickup full up on hb mode,and the front pu vol slightly down and in coil tap mode,too.

While the neck pickup sounds absolutely amazing through some good monitors, it is hard to dial in the full scope of its fundamental-saturated sound with standard drivers for bass cabinets-- whereas the bridge pickup is positioned perfectly for this. For my main gigging bass I am like John, I just have a bridge pickup. It's a 4002 pickup that Scott Pope was nice enough to sell to me. I used to have that pickup in the neck position for a recording (the result was so deep and sweet, I couldn't believe it), but for playing out live it's just easier to have a bridge pickup. It helps that I have a 2-band preamp installed as well to play with the tone a bit.

Hey,John,while you're having it rewired,you might want to go ahead and have a coil tap installed for a little more variety.
Then again,you might not! I really like the way the hb's sound tapped.

woodyng wrote:Hey,John,while you're having it rewired,you might want to go ahead and have a coil tap installed for a little more variety.
Then again,you might not! I really like the way the hb's sound tapped.

Oh yeah? Hadn't thought of that! I think I may.

Another idea would be to have a series/parallel switch for the HB-1. That would be my personal preference, instead of a coil tap. This would give it not only similarity to a Music Man humbucker, which is wired parallel, but also would give you the flexibility found in most G&L basses.