New 4003, some questions

stickist · Post by **stickist** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 4:52 pm

Today I receiced a beautiful turquoise 4003. It plays wonderfully. However, I have a few questions I would appreciate help with.

It has a "rick" sound. however, I can't get much treble out of her. I'm looking for that Geddy Lee "Free Will" tone, and I can hear it wanting to come out but its too dull sounding, not crisp enough, the E string is particularly dead. I'm running through a great SWR amp and my Ibanez sounds great through it (though not Riclike) but the ric is just too bassy. Of course I knows its probably the strings. So my first question is WHAT STRINGS DO I GET THAT WILL GIVE ME THE GEDDY SOUND? Did he use Rotosounds and will they be Okay for my Bass? What gauge Rotos (or anything else) should I try? I'm used to a lighter string for fusion and slapping on other basses I've owned, but the main thing for me on a Ric would be treble punch and not too much tension. I hate a super tight string whether on an electric bass, Upright Bass, or chapman stick.

My next question is about the strap pegs. They seem small and make me a little nervous. Are there strap locks which are designed for new rics?
Or any that work well with Rics and are easy to install?

Lastly my neck pickup seems a little weaker than my bridge pickup, is this normal on a ric?

I owner a Jetglo 4001 in the 70's it was my first real bass. I sold it 20 years ago and have gone from electric bass to jazz on an upright and jazz on a chapman stick. I still play all these things and love them however theres nothing like a rickenbacker and now that back playing some rock I knew this is what I wanted. I can't wait to get it set up with the right strings and start gigging

Thanks for any help

Brett

madscotsman · Post by **madscotsman** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 6:22 pm

As far as I know, the newer 4003's from the last 15 years or so have no .0047 cap and have more wire in the pickups, thus adding more output and bass and less treble. In some ways this is more versatile, but not as authentic. If you compare a bridge pickup from say a 70's 4001 to a modern 4003 you will see the tape on the 70's bass is well under the pc board of the pickup but on a new pickup the tape wrap is at the edge of the pickup. They put a lot more copper winding in there now. I suggest use a bass eq pedal and boost your high end, or find an old bridge pickup from an old 4001 bass and put it in the new one. A .0047mf cap could help too, but it may cut your output too much, I have not tried it so I don't know.
Geddy Lee uses rotosound "superwound "strings to my knowledge I think, but any roundwound stainless steel string would work good for a bright sound. I use Ghs supersteels in a medium light guage. The srap pegs are designed for the Shaller strap lock, most music stores should have them, they come with new pegs too with screws, just keep them for your Fender or discard them...

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 6:53 pm

Your Ric probably needs new strings ... Geddy uses Rotosounds strings ... I buy 'em in bulk and change them a lot ... next to get the geddy sound you need low action ... most Rics come from the factory with high action ... so you have to lower the bridge will an allen wrench and you may need to tweak the truss rods ... then you have to adjust the pickup height ...

Finally modern rics are a little bassier than some other basses ... most basses have a mid and bridge pickup ... Rics have a neck and a mid pickup .... plug it in and turn all the volume and tone controls to 10 ... then back off then neck volume to 9 or 7 ... and you may have to turn up mids and treble on your amp ... the result is that unique Ric growl

ilan · Post by **ilan** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 9:47 pm

"... the newer 4003's from the last 15 years or so have no .0047 cap"

Wait a minute, an '86 4003 has the cap?

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 9:55 pm

Congratulations and welcome aboard, Brett.

Just go to your local guitar shop and buy a set of the Schaller #446 locking system and use just the locking caps. They make the strap bolts for RIC and the caps fit perfectly. The matter was discussed at the pit a while ago:
http://pub206.ezboard.com/fthedudepitfrm64.showMessage?topicID=210.topic

IMHO, it's pretty normal that the bass PU is slightly less loud than the treble PU with the same distance to the strings. Just lower the treble PU for 1/16" and there should be a big difference. Or you can put a .0047 mfd cap between the toggle switch and the middle lug of the treble volume pot to get that '70s trebly but less loud RIC treble PU sound. Jeff's suggestion on setting the knobs and controls is a good one.

Ilan,
20-23 years is more like it.
If I recall correctly, the cap was there from the very late '60s/early '70s through the very early '80s.

ilan · Post by **ilan** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 11:38 pm

Thanks Paul. What a relief!

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 9:47 am

That's a .047 uf. cap by the way.The .0047 uf. caps are the tone control bleeders. It goes from the middle lug of the treble volume to the the switch, there is a solid piece of wire there now, just get a cap and replace the solid wire with the cap, there is no directionality to them. If you are looking for early Geddy Lee's tone, I think the cap and the Rotos were a large part of it, also he played an early 70's 4001 which had especially trebly treble pickups and a toaster which were softer than high gains. Your pickups can be unwound to the old specs, the old ones were about 7.5 K.
I think Rotos are a much more aggressive sounding string than the stock Ric round wounds and also have more tension and less bottom. The stock Ric strings are a sweet sounding string.

cheyenne · Post by **cheyenne** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 10:00 am

Try D'Addario XL-170's. I swear by them.

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 10:07 am

Hmm, Bob, I believe the 2 tone bleeder caps (the 2 red ones between the green wires on my '98, in the photo below) are .047 uf and the low cut cap for the treble pickup is .0047 uf (mfd).

I suppose .047uf and .047mfd is the same thing...

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 10:31 am

At RIC's site,the tone caps (C1 and C2) in the 4003 schematic is .047.

4003 schematic

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 10:47 am

Woops, and I thought I knew everything too.
thank you Paul.

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 10:55 am

You're absolutely welcome, Bob.
I've learned a lot from you!

madscotsman · Post by **madscotsman** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 1:29 pm

"... the newer 4003's from the last 15 years or so have no .0047 cap"

"Wait a minute, an '86 4003 has the cap?"

From a bass player and not a Rick-tech like many here seem to be, sorry for the technicality. I don't own and have not seen many Rick basses from the 80's. I only own a bass from the 70's, 90's, and 2000's. So I was not sure of the cutoff date for the .0047 cap. I am pretty sure it was a .0047 for the bridge, but my 70's bass is a 4000 and it does not have one- so I can't check. Sorry if wrong again on that.
P.S. (there is no sign for "micro ferrad") on a standard keyboard, so mf, mfd works for me. Anyway I just estimated at time- sorry- indeed, it must have been about 20 years ago. Thanks

jps · Post by **jps** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 4:59 pm

The toaster in my '73 4001 reads 8.47K Ohms. I haven't read the ones on my '67 4005WB yet, one of these days I will. Somewhat surprisingly, the hi gain bridge pickup that was originally on the 4001 read 7.16K Ohms. It now sports a V63 horseshoe.

ricnbacker · Post by **ricnbacker** » Sat Mar 13, 2004 3:10 am

all i know is my ric seems to have an equal amount of bass and treble out put and it is way louder than a p bass.

the treble and bass tone together creats an unbelievable throaty sound.i cannot play like geddy but my bass just turned 3 last month and i have not changed the strings, probably wont either and it still sounds great. maybe you should check your amp settings.