Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Finally got my '76 4001 AG into playable shape (you don't want to know how I did it though - this is the one with the messed up truss rods...)

Personally, I like this version of autumnglo without any red in it:

(I think I saw it referred to as "turdglo" somewhere, but I like it!)

Plus, you gotta love the skunk stripe:


I like the headstock too, even if it does have a bent tuner:


Plus I think it sounds great!

The clean bass came out a little darker than I intended, but through good speakers I think it sounds nice (both pickups full up, direct through a Custom Audio Electronics Japan tube compressor and Alembic F2-B preamp) - the filtered bass is the the bridge pickup, then an old Boss T-Wah and Fulltone Bass Drive, then the same as above. Drums by Greg DeGuglielmo. I was inspired to record by S4001's little ditty from the other day. It was fun to dust things off - haven't recorded anything of note for several months...

Great sound and even better fret board gymnastics Harry.

A beautiful 4001, to be sure. I wish its tone were a bit more in-your-face though. Let that 4001 rip!

Harry, beautiful bass, and really nice playing. I really like the rifs with the wah on it. Oh, and Greg does a great job - you two are together. Nice little ditty.

Thanks for the sound clip Harry! Nice playing, and a great dark sound. It's definitely a sound I'd like in my arsenal, very usable.

Thanks everybody. I never know what the reaction is going to be when I post these things.

I definitely hear what Sergio is saying though. To tell the truth, I originally was going to record the clean track with the bright switch engaged - now I wish I did, because the strings were almost brand new. But to tell the truth, I was having some distortion problems somewhere in line, and had to put it through a low-pass EQ to try and get rid of the distortion, and ended up getting rid of whatever highs I had in there.

These sketches take on a life of their own. Actually, the drum track is from an improvisation with a completely different bass part, recorded about a year ago. Greg is such a musical drummer - always listening, always creative. So I take the resulting drum part, and then add new stuff on top! It's a lot of fun. If it sounds like we're together, it's partly because I've played to the drum track over and over until I come up with something I like. But he and I have played together a lot over the past 12-13 years, so we have a natural chemistry, even if it's not simultaneous in this case...

Last but not least, I forgot to mention that I played both parts with a pick, and also used a Moogerfooger MF-104 analog delay on the lead part.

I like that tune, Harry.

Thanks Ilan!

basking!

Cool!!!

Gonna have to get a wah pedal now.

I just realized, the Boss T-Wah that I used is one of the first effects I ever bought, probably around 1985! In high school we were never sure if it was pronounced "twah" or if you said the letter "T" and then wah. I think it's the latter, the T standing for "touch." It's an envelope filter which reacts to how strong the signal is. One of the coolest features is the fact that you can choose whether the filter goes up or down. One of the worst things about it is that it's so old that the pedal itself has somehow become microphonic, so you can hear it when you kick it or step on the pedal!

Also, you lose a lot of bass frequencies. I used to try to get the sound from "Don't Kill the Whale" - with this pedal you would need to split the signal with one side clean to maintain the low end, but I didn't have the gear to be able to do that back then...

Hey Jared - that's an 8-string too, isn't it? I'm so jealous!

I wish you could listen to my 1970 21 fretter. Scary!

Love the sound the the T-wah! Always wondered about those.

Jared - is the AG really that light, or is it the flash? And what year is that bass?

For the adventurous:

http://www.freeinfosociety.com/electronics/schemview.php?id=173

Shall we go into production?!