Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi everyone - this is my first post! Although I've been a long time fan of the Rickenbacker I've only recently got a 4003. All my other basses - (Overwater Progress III, a fretless Sei Bass and a Stingray) are active and this means a major pain in the butt re-setting input levels and eq when I switch between any of them and my Ric. One possible solution I thought of might be to retrofit an active eq circuit such as the Schack pre-amp I have in the Sei Bass or the new 2 band active eq from Overwater. However, I don't want to loose the classic Rickenbacker sound. Any thoughts anyone?

G'day, welcome to the forum.

Show me a pic of your Overwater! I love' em.

How about something like the Radial Tonebone Bassbone? The Bass Player magazine review is here. I don't have one, but it allows you to plug in two different basses with different volume (and EQ I think) settings, and footswitch between them. That way you don't have to mess with your 4003!

Personally I prefer using an outboard preamp, but since you already own active basses that doesn't seem like it would work in your case...

You can use an EMG-BTC Control, which would give you concentric bass/treble controls with 12db boost/cut. These work with any passive pickups, and would replace the tone control on the Rick. They would give you tone shaping options without changing the overall sound of the bass.

http://www.emginc.com/displayproducts.asp?section=Accessories&categoryid=33&catalogid=104



I use them on my hand built 5-string basses.

If you don't want to lose the classic Rickenbacker sound then keep the sound sucking active **** out of the 4003 ...

I have 15 basses ... one is active and I may rewire it passive ... I sold all of my schecter/ibanez type active basses ... that dinky/boomy artificial sound doesn't cut through the mix like a Ric ...

Get a line 6 bass pod and have presets for different basses ...

most active bass players turn up the bass and treble boost too much ... I say run the bass at a flat eq and set the tone from the amp ... it will sound better and it will be less different from your 4003 ...

Jeff, how right you are! I sold my Overwater, Ibanez, MM Stingray all because of their ****** active tone. I now have 5 Rics and would never go back to any active bass.

Just do NOT do it !!

the mm stringray is one of the few active basses that sounds good ... but again start with all the tone dials at zero ... then only add a little + or - ... don't max out the treble and bass boost ... the maxed out sound is ok at a low volume in you basement but not with a band or in the studio ...

also with the bass pod you have really versatile active electronics that don't rely on ****** little 9 volt batteries ... and it is all out board ... outside the bass ...

I have to respectfully disagree with the sound sucking comment. A properly designed EQ (set flat) or preamp circuit will not alter the sound. If anything the impedance buffering will give you tighter bass and cleaner treble. My two Ricks had FET buffer amps installed. When you switched them on the sound got better, not different, but just bigger, with no EQ at all. It was a warmer fuller sound.

These were the same emitter follower circuits that Alembic used on those old Guild basses for Jack Cassidy and Phil Lesh. Passive pickups lose sound as soon as you wire them to the volume and tone controls! And everyone has heard the effect of treble roll off from turning down your volume control. Higher value pots, such as a 1 Meg will lessen the effect, but only as long as the pot is wide open. You will experience more treble roll off as your turn the volume down. An active buffer isolates the pickups from the rest of the controls. Or, if installed after the passive controls, you retain your impedance loaded passive sound, while isolating your passive volume and tone controls from the cable/amp.

If active electronics ruined your tone, than so would the Pod!

Now ****** circuits will give you ****** sound. And having a built in EQ will not give you a "dinky/boomy artificial sound" any more than the EQ on your amp, if properly used. After all, it's the exact same thing! "Dinky/boomy" tone is the result in people notching out their midrange. All these amps have those stupid "shape" buttons that suck all the tone out. Mids are where the tone is! Over boosting your lows and highs will do the same thing, but that's user error, and not intrinsic of on board EQ.

I routinely use my active EQ to cut treble, not just for boosting. And having some bass boost when soloing your bridge PU is real handy, and rapid tone changes like that can't be done from your amp. And giving a little treble boost to my neck pickup gives a nice round clean tone, sort of a cross between a Rick toaster and a P bass.

The problem with some "active" basses is they would sound bad with passive pickups too! Just sticking an active circuit wont make a poor sounding bass sound great. I have an Ibanez SR-885 that used to be my main bass, and the stock pickups and EQ were not that great. I replaced them with EMG J pickups and EQ. It sounded like a new bass.

You can hear it here on two tracks I recorded back in the mid 90's:

http://www.jamwave.com/DavidSchwab

Here's my SGD Lutherie 5 string bass (the one I made) with the EMG EQ. This is a brighter sound than I normally use, except for soloing...it was an example of picking dynamics. This is the EMG J pickup (which is about a half inch from the bridge), with a bit of the DC humbucker in the middle.

http://www.david-schwab.com/music/solo_bass.mp3

No dinky/boomy sound here!

all of the advantages gained by using active electronics can be had by plugging into a sans amp or line6 bass pod and you don't have to mod your bass and you don't have to screw around with batteries ...

I had a schecter with emg's the mids and highs got lost and the boomy low end came through ...

the problem I have with the active emg sound is it is too clean ... no growl ...

this is more the sound I prefer ... http://www.3dentourage.com/425/jeffbass.htm

the mm stringray is one of the few active basses that sounds good ... but again start with all the tone dials at zero ... then only add a little + or - ... don't max out the treble and bass boost ... the maxed out sound is ok at a low volume in you basement but not with a band or in the studio ...

Traditionally Stingray's EQ only boosted... they don't cut. At zero you have flat EQ. I don't know about the newer basses. But still, EQ is EQ. If it's good it works fine.

also with the bass pod you have really versatile active electronics that don't rely on ****** little 9 volt batteries ... and it is all out board ... outside the bass ...

First the Pod runs on 9V internally. I run my basses on 18V, as should anyone who uses a battery powered EQ such as EMG's. They even say to run them on 18V.

The Stingray runs on 9V.

There are situations where onboard is better. For example low impedance pickups, such as Alembic's, require the buffer preamp onboard. And EMGs have build in buffers. You get lower noise buffering right at the source and not further down the signal chain.

I had a schecter with emg's the mids and highs got lost and the boomy low end came through ...

Well you can hear from my clip that my mids and highs dont get lost, nor is the bass boomy. That was either the Schecter's fault, or the amp/eq setup.

I detest low impedance pickups ...

If somebody wants that sterile emg active sound then they shouldn't pickup a Ric or a p-bass ... get a Schecter, Spector, Ibanez, Yamaha, or similar bass

I detest low impedance pickups ...

And why is that? I think you have some preconceived notion about low impedance pickups.

Low impedance pickups have a wider frequency range... more lows and more highs. I'm not sure how that's sterile sounding. Sounds just like the bass. The more winding you add to a coil, you start to loose highs.

Now harsh sounding highs are not good either, but a well designed low impedance pickup sounds nice and smooth. From that you can get any sound you like. And it doesn't sound sterile at all. Go check out an Epi Jack Cassidy bass. That's a nice warm sounding pickup! And it's low impedance.

If you need dirt to make your bass sound good, then it's not a good sounding bass, or amp to start with. I like distortion, but as an option, not a crutch.

My eight string has low impedance P bass pickups I hand wound and a custom mixer/eq to blend them, and you wouldn't know they were low impedance at all. I think they sound better than the EMGs too. Real warm and fat, with a lot of growl.

why do I detest low impedance pickups ... uhhh ... because I don't like the sound they make ...

I prefer a the sound of a 4001, 4003, 4004, and a p-bass ... it is all a matter of taste ...

I like all the complex overtones and harmonic distortion and noise that comes with single coil pickups and hot series humbuckers like the p-bass or hb1 pickups ...

I am also a big fan of fret buzz, distortion, and over the top aggressive playing ... I am not an easy listing light jazz guy ...