Hey! Just curious as to what people would recommend for pickups in my Ric 4001. I wouldn't mind trying some non-stock ones just to see what their like. I think I'd like to retain the Ric's core sound, but am open to anything really.
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Best Replacement Rickenbacker Pickups?
- Thread starter HeavyAxe
- Start date
I can recommend NOT using Seymour Duncans. I have heard a Rick equipped with Bartolinis ( not bad),as well as one set up with Alembic Rick replacement pickups. (Very Nice).
You might even consider replacing the Rick pickups with.....different Rick pickups. I'm talking about the HB1 pickups,which are great sounding,noise free humbuckers. If you do,you'll probably want to swap the electronics,too,though.
You might even consider replacing the Rick pickups with.....different Rick pickups. I'm talking about the HB1 pickups,which are great sounding,noise free humbuckers. If you do,you'll probably want to swap the electronics,too,though.
My Ric has a Bartolini in the neck. I'm thinking maybe I'd just get a replacement Ric pickup for the neck position. Is boutique.rickenbacker.com and pickofthericks.com reliable sites to order from?
why replace the electronics ?..the dual volume and tone controls will work just fine with HB-1's..the only thing I would do is get a push\pull tone pot for the bridge pup so it can be used like a modern 4003..
Seymour Duncan now makes the Lemmy pups also which are replacement Ric pup's
The Lemmy Kilmister Bass Pickups | Seymour Duncan Blog
Why? Because The standard electronics WILL work,but they won't sound great,you'd be better off keeping the original SC pickups if you're keeping the factory wiring....i've had all 3 of my 4004's rewired,and it's like taking a heavy wool blanket off the speakers.....
DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
Barts do not sound very Rick to me. I have not tried Seymour Duncans but the Joe Bardens do a pretty good job.
I have played every Rickenbacker pickup made. The new 4003 pickups with the adjustable pole pieces are the best sounding pickups RIC has ever made. I think you will be surprised about how much more tone they have.
If you must change out from Rickenbacker, Barden has a set of dual blade humbuckers that have good reviews: more tone than SD, more character than Barts.
But I still wonder why you are considering changing. I used to have a '76 4001 that sounded great. I just prefer my 4002 instead. (yes, "2" not "1" or "3")
If you must change out from Rickenbacker, Barden has a set of dual blade humbuckers that have good reviews: more tone than SD, more character than Barts.
But I still wonder why you are considering changing. I used to have a '76 4001 that sounded great. I just prefer my 4002 instead. (yes, "2" not "1" or "3")
Damn, those look pretty cool. A little pricey, but interesting! I use my Ric when I play in some more extreme, crusty metal bands so those may work nicely! Either way, I think I might just get the neck pickup to start to replace the Bartolini and see what its like.
So if I were going to get a bridge/neck set for my 4001, I'd go with the traditional pickguard mount? In regards to bridge type, what's the difference between covered and open coil?
Ric5
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- Jan 29, 2008
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- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Rickenbacker pickups ... The first thing to know about Rickenbacker pickups is they used guitar pickups on the basses. The horseshoe pickup is from the lap steel guitar, they simply changed the number of poles on the pickup. Other than that it is the same pickup. The Horseshoe pickup are fairly underwound about 6k ohms if I remember, maybe even less. Also the horseshoe pickups have steel shoes as a magnet. They are prone to degaussing. But they have a distinctive tone. The new reissue horseshoe pickups are really an 11k ohm high gain with 4 alnico slugs. The toaster pickups are 6 pole guitar pickups used for 6 and 12 string guitars and were also put into 4, 5, and 8 string basses. These pickups are scatterwound to about 6.7k ohms which gives them a smoother slightly scooped tone that many love. The high gains came along in the 70s and were originally 8k ohm single coil pickups that had more output than the weak 60s style pickups. The modern 4003 high gains are wound to about 11k ohms and are hotter than the 4001 high gain pickups. The 4004 hb-1 pickups are 15k ohm series humbuckers, that can also be wired for single coil or parallel operation.
After market pickups ...
Classic Amplification makes a faithful recreation of the 70s high gain pickup.
Bartolini makes a set of Rick replacement pickups that are nice but don't really sound very "Rickenbacker"
Joe Barden makes some nice humbuckers that have a similar tone to Rick pickups. They get about 80% there.
The Seymour Duncan Ric replacement pickups that I have tried were tone suckers.
Also you can mount non Ric pickups to the bridge plate on a Rick. Jazz pickups and others can be used in this fashion.
There was a guy in Portugal ... Sergio ... who made some nice Ric type pickups.
After market pickups ...
Classic Amplification makes a faithful recreation of the 70s high gain pickup.
Bartolini makes a set of Rick replacement pickups that are nice but don't really sound very "Rickenbacker"
Joe Barden makes some nice humbuckers that have a similar tone to Rick pickups. They get about 80% there.
The Seymour Duncan Ric replacement pickups that I have tried were tone suckers.
Also you can mount non Ric pickups to the bridge plate on a Rick. Jazz pickups and others can be used in this fashion.
There was a guy in Portugal ... Sergio ... who made some nice Ric type pickups.
I have played '70's - '80's high gains that had everything on guitar from 6.1 kohms' worth of wire to 14 kohms' worth of wire, and bass was between these two extremes. These were used especially in the late '70's and early '80's to get maximum contrast from the underwound bright bridge pickup to the overwound dark bridge pickup. There are two kinds of toasters: an '80's to'90's version with @ 12 kohms' worth of wire which a lot of guitar players like in the bridge position, and the "scatterwound" "reissue" that has about 7.4 kohms' worth of wire. Some of the 325 reissues of the late '50's guitar that John Lennon started out with have a little less wire than that.
Ric5 is spot on with his assessments. Again, the question is still, why change? It is what it is. It is a good tone.
Ric5 is spot on with his assessments. Again, the question is still, why change? It is what it is. It is a good tone.
Those are questions that could be better answered by Seymour Duncan..I have no experience with these pup's..I was just pointing out another alternative..I think they do make a mounting plate for the bridge pup though..
I think JBE makes replacement pickups for the Rickenbacker 4001/4003. I have not actually heard what one sounds like but here is the link if you want to check it out: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
hmm, the link to the duncan "lemmy" pickups appears to be gone.
judging by the apparent s**tstorm lollar went through trying to make a horseshoe pickup, ric may have put the kibosh on them if they were too close to the design of real ric pickups.
judging by the apparent s**tstorm lollar went through trying to make a horseshoe pickup, ric may have put the kibosh on them if they were too close to the design of real ric pickups.
wow, interesting.
so very different than stock (each one being a humbucker), and there isn't a replacement for the actual ric bridge pickup? it's a "middle" that goes on the pickguard and a bridge bridge that goes back behind the ric bridge location; kinda weird, and they ain't going in without real surgery.
what nobody seems to make are replacement ric single coils that fit right in, maybe made to hum-cancel with each other.
Actually, Mike at Gemini Pickups makes wonderful Rick bass pickups just like you described. I have both of the types he winds and they not only sound great, they are humcancelling when both are on.
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I also like the pickups made by Brad at Classic Amplification. It doesn't say it on his site, but he made me a humcancelling set. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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