Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

sloop_john_b wrote:That about sums it up for me!

Since Rickenbacker put out one of the definitive bass designs (4000, 4001) a lot earlier in their illustrious history, one would have thought that they would either come up with (a) a better design or (b) stay the same and play about with the electronics. Sadly, they've done neither. The electronics on the Rickenbacker 2030 Hamburg bass sound more or less the same as earlier Ricks apart from their being a bit less treble response from the bridge pickup. The neck is very slim, which will please people like me who dislike bloody great tree trunks, which have marred a lot of basses in the past (notably the Gretsch and the Gibson EB0-3). The frets are good and the neck is, like all Ricks so far, laminated all the way round.

Now the bad news. The bloody thing looks like a ??? ???? cricket bat! The paint is ??? and ???, which isn't up my street, but will go with your spandex if you like that sort of thing. The pickup selector should easily last for 30 gigs before it snaps off and you have to get the screwdrivers out! The volume and tone controls look like they came off a Hofner Colorama, and the whole thing appears ill conceived and hastily put together.

Having said that though, it sounds ?? and handles well, and I may be being a bit hard on it because I like the old Rick designs so much. I don't actually know how much it costs, but if is cheap(ish), if its a good buy, and when you graduate to a better bass you can always ????.

LEMMY

sloop_john_b wrote:Tried to transcribe the text...

Since Rickenbacker put out one of the definitive bass designs (4000, 4001) a lot earlier in their illustrious history, one would have thought that they would either come up with (a) a better design or (b) stay the same and play about with the electronics. Sadly, they've done neither. The electronics on the Rickenbacker 2030 Hamburg bass sound more or less the same as earlier Ricks apart from their being a bit less treble response from the bridge pickup. The neck is very slim, which will please people like me who dislike bloody great tree trunks, which have marred a lot of basses in the past (notably the Gretsch and the Gibson EB0-3). The frets are good and the neck is, like all Ricks so far, laminated all the way round.

Now the bad news. The bloody thing looks like a VOX 1964 cricket bat! The paint is ??? and ????, which isn't up my street, but will go with your spandex if you like that sort of thing. The pickup selector should easily last for 30 gigs before it snaps off and you have to get the screwdrivers out! The volume and tone controls look like they came off a Hofner Colorama, and the whole thing appears ill conceived and hastily put together.

Having said that though, it sounds OK and handles well, and I may be being a bit hard on it because I like the old Rick designs so much. I don't actually know how much it costs, but if is cheap(ish), if its a good buy, and when you graduate to a better bass you can always ????.

LEMMY