Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hey everyone, I have been playing the bass like mad lately. I never played bass in my life, until this February. I couldn't get my buddies to come over and lay down the parts, so I had to take it on myself. I'm not bad. Anyway, my friend "gave" me a 4001JG from the early 80s, I had it set up, and it plays and sounds good. I also am using a Jazz bass, and I like to switch between them from song to song. I tend to like the Ric for the fast, tight, high energy rock songs. I also like it for snappy little pop songs, where the bass has a strong melodic presence. I record straight through a tube pre-amp and compressor. How do y'all use the pick-ups on the Ric bass ? I used both, full-on, until recently, I am recording with just the neck pick-up. It seems like the neck-only is awesome, I wish I had tried it sooner. Please share your thoughts if you'd like.

I turn all knobs to 10 then back off the neck volume to 7-9 range ... Chris Squire with Yes does a lot of just his neck toaster pickup only on his old '65 4001s

Pickup settings I use:
Both, with neck tone around 2, bridge tone on 10

Bridge, with tone on 10

Neck, with tone on 0

Thanks. I like neck with tone on 10 also. We'll see in the final mix, which is what really matters, right ?

I use both pick ups and the 2 tone both on 10.

I EQ as needed at the AMP...

It also makes a difference with what kind of strings you are using. With rounds you'll probably roll the tones off a bit more than if you're using flats.

I use DR rounds "hi beams", 45-100. Wow, neck pick-up on 10 is both snappy and fat. Give it a try !

With the cap bypass ..... Everything up ...bridge pickup volume back just enough to fatten the tone .

I havent recorded or played with anyone much sence i got my ric. So i dont know what i use really. Dont pay too much attention. However I did get to use the ric-o-sound tonight. If i was recording id play with it. We went thru a little recording machine into the bigger set up so we could get all the effects. I was just simply amazed.

Sorry if thats off topic... Somehow in my head it related some.

I guess I'm the different one. I generally use the bridge pickup only (pickup selector in the down position), with volume and tone full up. I finger pluck, with a heavy hand.

I will flip the pickup selector to middle (both pickups) when I'm using a pick (a few songs per show).

I occasionally flip the pickup selector up to the neck pickup for a mellow part of a song.

So, essentially, my default is bridge pickup full on, and I use the pickup selector switch for effect. When I've recorded, I've used the same approach.

It's interesting to see how everybody else uses theirs....

I have the mod in. Bridge vol max , neck only to match and the tones just rolled enough to not get fret noise when sliding. I also have a gentle midrange hill for Eq. Chromes. When I need a Fender sound I just play close to the neck, when I want growl, right over the bridge p/u. I love those two tones.

I should have mentioned, the neck p/u is much louder with the mod in, so I max the bridge vol and match that on the neck p/u. That way if I really wanted a Fender sound, I can just flip the switch up go close to the neck and really get that thump. I didn't want to have to adjust vols when flipping the switch, and I really enjoy the versatility with the vintage tone mod.

I change sounds to fit the song in all cases. I'll play flats, rounds, neck pickup, bridge pickup, bridge pickup with cap mod, both pickups....whatever works.

I just use all pots to 10, whether it is the 4003 or 4004. I play with fingers, but use mainly the fingernails like a pick (to harden them I sometimes use a little bit of "superglue", cyan-acrylate, when we play long sets. The fingerplay can also mellow the tone a bit if I like. However I rarely use the PU-switch (on my 4003), it is mainly in the middle position.

Anyone else think the pup switch is backwards? Intuitively for me up would be treble (higher freqs) and down would be bass (lower freqs).