Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

My 72 4001 is a beauty with incomparable playability and tone. It sports a vintage toaster and a white-hot high gain from Sergio his-badd-self. Yes, its Love.

But I do get noise, snap crackle and pop, same as I do from my vintage Stratocaster. How do some of you rectify this? Do you use noise gates, compressors...what specifically are some of your favorite combos to produce a good clean signal before the sound reaches your amp or recording device? What are the simplest solutions?

...and I'll take my answer off the air. Thanks!

Well, for the benefit of others with the same problem, first make sure the strings aren't hitting the pickup poles which will produce significant popping sounds. It's also possible that you're getting an intermittent fret buzz depending on how low the action is and your fretting technique. I'd check those two first before digging into the electronics.

No sir, this is just plain static noise, the kind you get when you're not playing anything. Very common with old single coil pickups.

I get it from no other instruments I use, just the old Strat and the old Rickenbacker, so that takes out the potential issues of a bad cord or amp, etc.

Uh-oh, I didn't expect this one to be unusual...

Dirty pots, jack or bad solder joints perhaps?

I'd agree with Ben, consider cleaning the pots, as well as the switch and jack contacts, you might also consider rewiring the harness with a good quality shielded cable.

Does the cable you use between the 4001 and your amp produce the same noise using other instruments, or is the noise confined to the 4001 ?

Cabling is fine--my digital piano and synth come through noise-free. Only the Strat and the 4001 give me the business.

I'm probably confusing everyone with my lousy use of terminology. Should I be calling this "hum"? Yes, let's call it hum, since that's what humbuckers were invented for, and what single coil pickups like to produce.

Does this change the diagnoses?

Or does no one use noise gates, etc...

I have a noise gate on my amp, but there is noticeable latency at all settings, so I do not use it. My 74' emits no noticeable hum though, so I don't really need a gate.

You could also try lining the pickup cavity with shielded metallic tape I've seen this work to calm a noisy pickup.

Hmm... Yes. While you're at it, also shield the control cavity. Pickups on my April '74 "all black" 4001, for instance, are my own, as are those on my 21 fretter. The pickups are not shielded, but their routes and the control cavity - down to the jack socket holes - are. No noise whatsoever, even though I've permanently disconnected the string ground on both basses.

Sérgio... the pickups on your "all black" 4001 are still your's... STILL?

Okay, sounds like this bass is not performing as it should, and I need to get someone who knows what they're doing (Not Me) to check into my wiring and soldering and do some shielding as well.

Once again, thank you, Wise Forumites.

Hey Sean. Yes, pickups on my April '74 4001 are still my own. Their output and tone? Jet-engine massive!