Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

So, I've toyed with this idea of getting a toaster and putting it in.

What am I looking for in a toaster? Any toaster? Can I take a guitar toaster and use it? Is there a difference between a guitar toaster and bass toaster? Is it one and the same?

Any caveats to doing this?

Thanks for any comments.

The guitar and bass toasters are the same, however the bass toaster has threaded mounting holes to facilitate installation on a Rick bass.

Doesn't your 4003S/5 have a Toaster in the neck (position)?

Here are my neck and bridge Toaster clips:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default ... dID=816857

The Toaster basically has a wider magnetic field, or so I understand, and gets a warmer and slightly clearer sound on the bottom end... I think for the uppermost frequencies you may actual be better off with a Hi-Gain, so it depends a bit on what you're after tonally. Toasters can be very good at aggressive articulate sounds (anyone heard of Chris Squire?) but I just think Hi-Gains can edge them out here, a little, if you're wanting to go for something really extreme. 99% of people would probably be fine with a Toaster and its limits here.

I'm not going to claim it's the "better" Ric pickup, but for my fretless I think it is king.

I guess i will put a toaster in neck position.

There's so much difference (sonically speaking) in putting it at 1/2 inch from neck or in the post 74 position ?

From clip heard here and there the basses with pick up at pre 74 position have a more mid/bass presence.

cassius987 wrote:Doesn't your 4003S/5 have a Toaster in the neck (position)?

Here are my neck and bridge Toaster clips:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default ... dID=816857

The Toaster basically has a wider magnetic field, or so I understand, and gets a warmer and slightly clearer sound on the bottom end... I think for the uppermost frequencies you may actual be better off with a Hi-Gain, so it depends a bit on what you're after tonally. Toasters can be very good at aggressive articulate sounds (anyone heard of Chris Squire?) but I just think Hi-Gains can edge them out here, a little, if you're wanting to go for something really extreme. 99% of people would probably be fine with a Toaster and its limits here.

I'm not going to claim it's the "better" Ric pickup, but for my fretless I think it is king.

Yes, it does have a toaster. I was toying with the idea of putting it in the bridge just to see how it sounded there and then using it in another 400x when I pick another one up.

Basically I'm just mucking about with ideas rather than anything concrete.

Toaster sound:

http://gil.disatnik.com/toaster.mp3

This one is sprung all the way

(Sorry, couldn't resist )

That's exactly what I was thinking of...

I'm thinking the best part of waking up isn't Folgers in your cup but a Ric with a toaster in it.

I put one in my 4001 (replacing an early low impedance higain) and noticed the following:
-A veil is lifted, the tone is cleaner and the highs are less exagerated... less tinny and bright and more natural.
-The higain imparts a crunchier character, the toaster is much smoother.
-Bass response is superior on the toaster, the E string is a lot more articulate.
-Noise is lower on the toaster, even with max tone.

I think it is a superior pickup but it takes a little while to understand and get a feel for its sonic quicks, it doesn't act quite the same as the higain (even the low impedance/early versions). The construction may need tweaking too, the one I had original had the threading off just a tiny bit between the top cover and the bottom plate... so I just had to loosen, shift, and re-tighten it to get the screw to thread perfectly vertically.

I prefer the toaster as close to the strings as possible for maximum character and believe it is a better match for the instrument, particularly for my early 74.

I can try to dig up some recordings with the higain and attempt to recreate them with the toaster if you would like but no promises... lol too many files and projects.

The first thing I do when I get a 4003 is remove the highgain and have a toaster installed, thats also why my favorites are my 4001 C64 and my 4001V63, to me the toaster/horseshoe combo are the ultimate ric bass sound. but thats just me....lol

since my second 4001(which was a '73 deluxe) i've been transferring toasters from rick to rick(if it didn't have one) !
love 'em ! my '64 is sporting the pickups from my '73 deluxe whick includes the toaster. for bass, the long magnets are better than the shorter flush ones as the '73 to present rear pickups are powererful so you'll need a good match in magnet structure.

Tarrbot wrote:I'm thinking the best part of waking up isn't Folgers in your cup but a Ric with a toaster in it.

Nah, the best part of waking up is waking up.

If you like discerning all the low notes on the E string (and probably the B on a 5-er) then you would probably like the toaster at the bridge also.

This thought occurred to me while catching up on this thread - has anyone tried a guitar higain in the neck position or even the bridge position of a bass?

johnallg wrote:This thought occurred to me while catching up on this thread - has anyone tried a guitar higain in the neck position or even the bridge position of a bass?

This has occurred to me before as well.

cassius987 wrote:

johnallg wrote:This thought occurred to me while catching up on this thread - has anyone tried a guitar higain in the neck position or even the bridge position of a bass?

This has occurred to me before as well.

Now this thought has my brain racing around thinking of a 4004 humbucker installed now.

I change my mind so often on these things, I can't ever win, can I?