Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

To those who play 4004 Laredos or Cheyennes fingerstyle, how do you get the sounds you like? What kinds of amps/settings give you the best results?


Thank you,
bluewhale

I've demoed 3 4004Ciis so I'm semi-qualified to respond.

I'm 99% a fingerstyle player, and I found all three Ciis to have a very warm foundational tone with a snappy sizzle on the top, playing over either pickup. Obviously they warmed up closer to the neck pickup like any other bass. From the outset I really loved the way they sound. I'm in the market to buy one.

If you are into fingerstyle players like James Jamerson, I can vouch for the 4004Cii--it can definitely "go there" with ease. But it's also a very bright bass with a rather hifi sound if you want. I played "Portrait of Tracy" on one of them and people came back to watch--with the tone full up it is very clean and bright and works well with harmonics and "roundwound clank". I think they are really quite versatile tonally, in spite (or perhaps because) of the simple VT setup. If I ever snag one, it will stay completely stock.

I play my 4004Cii basses through SWR, GK and RIC amps.
I recently did a recording with my 4004Cii Blueburst. I just recorded it direct, added nothing to it and the tone is great. I'm sure it will get some compression in the mix, but other than that it needs no tweaking. The songs is nowhere near being ready to share, sorry.

Playing live, I pretty much leave the amp set to a flat eq. I might tweak the eq a little depending on venue.
I've found dynamics and tonal range with the 4004Cii basses that I haven't found with other basses.

This is about all I have ready to share right now, though I do have the mix of the song right off the board Yost Theater sound board from SCARF that I should get ready to share so you could hear everything much better.

Nice sounding bass. Now I miss mine.

Are there any 4004FLs out there? The descriptions make me curious about adding one. I've got one fretted bass, and that's plenty for now.

Just Dane Wilder's modded "4002FL" style 4004 (Cii?). He had someone else do the defret. I have a pic...



To be honest, the main thing I'm hoping to see RIC do in 2010 and beyond is bring back the 4004 (none were made in 2009 to my knowledge) with the two-piece necks they're doing now, and maybe add a few other things to the line--my fingers are crossed for something like a 5-string or an FL. But I know these are probably pipe dreams.

If they made them with a smaller neck profile I would be very interested in one.

i've played mine through a markbass combo,mostly set flat,which seems to work best. i am pluggin into my 60's ampeg b12n and discovering a different aspect of the cii's tonal capabilities,(warm and grindy!) i tend to pluck right over the bridge pickup,and have done the vol/vol/tone mod to my bass,which i highly recommend. my preferred setting for that is to have the neck pickup rolled back just slightly,bridge pickup full up,and the tone pickup rolled back about a third. it's more of a smooth tone,but turn the treble and bridge pickups all the way up and there is crunch and boom to spare,even with nickle strings.

teeder wrote:If they made them with a smaller neck profile I would be very interested in one.

+1

jps wrote:

teeder wrote:If they made them with a smaller neck profile I would be very interested in one.

+1

That 4004cii I tried at your place in November Jeff had a beast of a neck! Much deeper than either of my 4004's.

Don't ask me why, but I've found all three of the 4004s I demoed to be the comfiest basses... EVER! Something about the way they're profiled. They played like butter. It doesn't feel like the traditional C shape.

BTW, nice playing Joey! I like the hat as well!

Thanks Steve! The Australian hat was a gift from good ol', Trotty!

My 4004cii is played through a Sansamp RPM that runs 2 Hartke LH 500's, one powers a Hartke HX 115 and the other powers a 4 ohm Black Widow in an old 115 fender cab I had. The Hartke has a warm fat bottom end with a touch of growl, were as the Black Widow is clankie and growlie with a very nice mid-range punch, for me the RIC was the one thing that made all this work...

I play finger style pretty much right over the neck pickup, I have the VT/VT mod, with the bridge pickup at about 95% volume and about the same on the tone, the neck pickup is full on open...I use both pickups about 75% of the time but on more of our slower or softer songs I will use just the neck pickup to give me just bottom end and very little growl or clank etc.

I found the neck to be just a smidge to big for my hand and the strings also slightly to far apart for me to do fast runs like I use to do on my jazz that I played for 10 years, but as I become more attuned to her I find she's smooth to play, apart from the girth being slightly too much for me I love this bass and have to say that I have more attention now than in the past 18 years of playing, in the 8 months that I have owned this bass more people have given me complements on looks and tone than all my other bass's put together...

Ken

very powerful basses live , reminds me of a very healthy pbass with some additional cut . here's a fun jam I did when I first got my BBR last year , the solo is the cii bridge p/u played with a pick , it's all the cii multitracked

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_so ... ID=7339788