Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

For those who were following my rant in the market place section about my quest for a Rickenbacker S-5, here is the topic I promised I start. I had been looking for a Rickenbacker S-5 for a while now and I foolishly let a few reasonably priced ones slip away on eBay several month back. By reasonably priced I mean in the $1'700-$2,000. price range. There were 3 that sold within a month or so of one another within that range.

First off, I've never played a 5 string so I did not know exactly what I wanted. Do I really need a low B string? No, but it would open up the range of songs to learn and play so my search began. I toyed with the idea of an Alembic 5 string, either a used Europa or an Epic but at 4k plus, that would have been an expensive experiment. I knew I wanted a quality instrument that could mimic the sound and playability of my 6 Rickenbackers. Is there such a non Rickenbacker instrument?? I had played a brand new Fender Jazz 5 at my local Sam Ash and was not thrilled. I wanted to try a Jackson CB5 but there were none in my area. On Talk Bass, I learned of the Modulus company and it received high praise. Now for finding one. It turned out to be a difficult search. I found a slightly used Quantum 5 on Talk Bass for $1,900. and pulled the trigger.

The review.

Modulus uses carbon fiber necks on their basses. The necks feature compound radius. Active electronics with various pup manufactures are all standard on the basses. This particular bass has two EMG BTS pups

The width at the nut is approx.1.85" wide
The width at the 24th fret is 2.75" wide.
String spacing at the bridge is 17 mm.

The neck is a bolt on shallow 'D" profile with phenolic fingerboard with side fret markers. The neck is quite comfortable to play. This bass is equipped with an adjustable truss rod.

It came strung with half rounds. The prior owner stated he was in a Grateful Dead cover band and these strings worked best for that style and sound. Note: As a rule I detest flat wound strings. I hate the silky feel of them and I've yet to find a set of flats that I liked the sound of. Yes, I have had a set of TI flats that I could not co-exist with. I deep sixed the half rounds for a set of Circkle K's that Skipp Fanty (the owner of Circle K) helped select. .136 .106 .079 .059 .043. I feel this was an improvement to the overall sound of the bass.

The pros

Getting use to the extra string was not a difficult as I thought. After a short while, I was able to move around the neck with ease. I find if I do not play it I need to really concentrate on the fingerboard and ease into it for a while.

The neck tapers is a bit wider than I an accustomed to but the different radius makes it easier to play as I progress up the neck.

The bridge is a Hipshot Type A and is a breeze to set up.

The fit and finish is really nice. While this instrument is used, 2004, and has a few dings, it is in really nice shape.

The neck is very stable and needed no adjustment after my string change. Over the course of my ownership, it has remained consistent whereas several of my Rickenbackers have needed adjustments to keep pace with the change of weather .

The cons

The treble pup is placed where I normally play. It's not a problem when I'm playing finger style but it seems to be in the way while using a pick.

No front fret markers. I did not think this would be a big deal but at times, I feel lost on the neck. Yes, it has side markers but in low light situations, I doubt they would be of any use.

Tuners. They are Gotoh 20:1 (GB70) and the posts all feel wobbly with no string tension on them. The D string tuner is tight to turn and finding a replacement anywhere is turning out to be a challenge!!

The sound. I can't seem to get this bass to sound like any of Rickenbackers and that frustrates me. Yeah, I know, it's not a Rickenbacker but I thought with active pups, I'd have a better chance of dialing in a punchy Rickenbacker growl. As of yet, no dice.

Overview

Like I said, it's my first 5 string as well as my first active pup instrument. I don't know what i was expecting with either. Maybe my expectations were too high. Perhaps the problem is with me. I'm not a very tech savvy type guy. Effects and things like that confuse me. The controls on the bass have the same effect. I need to refer to the instruction booklet when I attempt to tweak the dials. Even with the new strings the sound is quite dull. With all my Rickenbackers, I hear the bright tones while playing unplugged. Not so with the Quantum. It sounds dull almost muted.

Like I said, most of the instruments "issues" maybe with me. I need to screw around with it more but I find it difficult when I can't get it to sound like I want.
Sepp

I've owned 2 moduli,and i did really like then at the time. ( about 25? Years ago) They have a very even tone,string to string and up and down the neck,with a great clarity.. What i thought was lacking was " character", for lack of a better term. I traded my 2nd modulus in for a strange looking Ric bass that turned out to be a 4002,and played that one for 11 years. It is true that the modulii were not susceptible to climate changes,but ultimately i had to go with the brand that i always loved the sound of. Also i am not a 5 string guy,and i think the Ric 5's string spacing is too "tight". I would just set up one of my basses up as BEAD,instead. I understand the 4004 is really good for that.

Woody,

I understand completely since that is where I'm at with the Modulus. While I knew it was not a Rickenbacker when i purchased it, I'm still disappointed I can't get it to sound like a Rickenbacker. Like I thought that would be easy, or something! I too have been told that I would find the string spacing too tight for my big hands on the S-5.

I do have a 4004 but flipping it to BEAD is not an option with it. I realize it's only a new nut to switch it back but I have a feeling more than one forumite would be looking to put my stupid head on a stick if I perverted a "one off" bass like that. I initially intended to transform my Shadow to BEAD but it one of my best sounding basses so I can't transform that one either.

Sepp

When I was doing my jazz fusion thing the three Zons I had were perfect (toward the latter part of that band I started using Ricks, again), now with the cover band the Ricks and Martin Keiths give me the tone and range I need. The Martin Keiths don't sound like a Rick but they have great growl and wonderful tone, plus they sustain forever.

I am surprised the tone is muted on the Quantum as the EMG pickups should be pretty bright sounding. How close are they to the strings? Just to clear things up, the control layout is the BTS, bass and treble controls are separate vs. the BTC with the bass and treble controls mounted concentrically. The pickups, themselves, should have some other kind of model designation.

The first modulus i owned was a neck through Basstar with active pickups. (pretty sure they were Emg's) . I sold it and wound up with a more standard Jazz bass with a modulus neck bolted on,and passive bartolinis.(no preamp) That was a step in the right direction,as that bass had a bit more character to its sound than the first one. When i found the Ric in a Memphis used guitar shop and played it unplugged for about 5 minutes,i had the shop owner hold it while i went home to get my Modulus. At that time,graphite basses were pretty popular,and i got a really good trade in for the 4002,which also reunited me with a having a Ric after a 7 year hiatus. I think i've only had EMG pickups in one other bass (aFender P)in all these years,and i have to say i don't like them at all.
Just notice your pic of your sizeable collection in another thread....surely you could spare one of those basses for BEAD conversion?

Kopfjaeger wrote:...but I have a feeling more than one forumite would be looking to put my stupid head on a stick if I perverted a "one off" bass like that. ...
Sepp

I figured I may as well beat jps to this.

Whoa! Jeff you are genius!! I knew I had two bent itonation adjustment screws on the hipshot bridge. I had contact Hipshot and they sent me a **** load of extra screws, no charge. I finally got around to replacing them tonight and while working on the bass I figured I look over all the specs like pup height & string spacing. I new I needed to adjust the string spacing between the D & G since it was way to tight with too mach space between the A & D. That was a simple fix. I then took a look at the pup height like Jeff mentioned and was shocked to see they were both too low. The front pup was higher than the treble pup and if anything, according to the instruction book, the treble pup should be 1/8 inch from the bottom of the strings while the forward pup is to be 5/32's. After bringing both pups up to specs and tuning and intonating, I plugged in and was amazed to find the bass was way louder than it had been before. I had to lower the bass' volume to half in order to not shake stuff off the walls. Huge difference in volume. I also notice a marked improvement of treble tone as well. I have yet to mess with the controls yet. They are still set where I had them before I made the adjustments, besides the lowered volume.

Speaking of pups, They are labeled as EMG and I assumed that I had the BTS system but I have no dip switches in the control cavity. Perhaps I have the EMG BQC system but I'm not sure. I have 4 knobs but the two closest to the bridge are stacked knobs. I'll have to call modulus, give them my serial number and have them give me more info on what I have and what the knobs control.

It still does not sound like a Rickenbacker but it is 10 times better now with the adjustments I made.

Thanks for mentioning it Jeff!!

Sepp

Looking more closely at the photo, you do seem to have the BQC setup, with concentric bass & treble controls, and concentric sweepable mid control (frequency & boost/cut). The other two, single, controls are volume and pickup pan (most likely) or two individual volume controls.

Kopfjaeger wrote:Whoa! Jeff you are genius!!

Sepp

I forgot to mention, nobody has ever accosted me in such a manner!

Wow, it's a small world! Just yesterday FedEx delivered a Modulus Q5 25th Anniversary Edition hollow-body model, bought used. A beautiful bass that has a killer tone and perfect B-string! Only 25 of these were made. Anyways, it had the same knob setup that is talked about here and the stacked bass/trable was not described in the manual that came with it. So I just googled "modulus stacked knobs" and this thread was near the top of the list.

Oddly, the pickups are Barts and the preamp is supposed to be Aguilar, so funny that it's got this EMG knob setup. Being a special edition I guess they just liked this combo. Instead of an f-hole it has a "25 hole" that is a pretty cool design cutout. Nice touch!

http://www.planetbass.com/slides/Q5_25t ... t_Used.htm

We can always count on Jeff to help us with these things. Thanks Jeff!

-Greg Horton

squirefan01 wrote:We can always count on Jeff to help us with these things. Thanks Jeff!

-Greg Horton

Thanks, Greg. All I did was check out EMG's website for info I may have forgotten.