I have a 1974 Rickenbacker 4001 that I love to play, but I'm tired of all the noise on the single coil pickups. I'm considering buying a pair of JBE pickups to replace the single coil ones. Has anyone had any experience with this brand of pickups? Please let me know what you think about my idea to have the have the pickups replaced.
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JBE Pickups for Rickenbacker
- Thread starter Bill May
- Start date
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Looks interesting. Here is a link to their drop in Ric pickups. Link Removed. Let us know if you decide to try them out.
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
ahh so JBE = Joe Barden ...
I worked on a Rick with Joe Barden pickups ... they have a nice Rick tone ... they are almost as good as the original Rick pickups. And they are pricey.
I worked on a Rick with Joe Barden pickups ... they have a nice Rick tone ... they are almost as good as the original Rick pickups. And they are pricey.
Hi Bill,
This is way late but I just found your thread.
I installed Joe Barden Engineering (JBE) pickups in my 4001 to get rid of the single coil hum as well.
They do have a tone that is similar to the stock pickups.
The current owner of the JBE business is a good guy and will return emails and telephone calls.
I discovered after installing them that I needed to jumper around the capacitor on the bridge pickup.
The bridge p/u volume is reduced to an unsatisfactory level with that cap left in the circuit.
I jumpered it rather than remove it to make it easier to return the bass to original configuration.
The output seems a little lower than a healthy set of stock 4003 pickups. Not a big deal.
The bridge pickup in my 4001 was weak and highly feedback prone and was a factor in my decision to try the relatively expensive Bardens.
I had the Duncan SRB-1 pickup set installed years ago in my JetGlo 4003. Still have the receipt, it was Jan. 2000.
I tried them for the same reason of needing to get rid of the single coil hum issue on gigs with fluorescent lights etc.
Although they had a strong punchy tone, great for hard rock gigs, they sounded nothing like 4003 pickups.
I missed that special Ric tone, especially after having the opportunity to A/B with a friend's stock 4003 a few years ago.
So I reinstalled the original pickups and performed the RWRP mod.
That worked as suggested to eliminate the single coil hum so long as both volumes are full on.
I later shielded the pickup and controls cavities. That greatly reduced the hum from EMI sources.
And under the right conditions I can use the bridge pickup only (a GREAT sound) or just roll off the neck volume a bit.
So try the Bardens. Yeah, they're pricey but they do fix the single coil hum deal.
And (or) try the reverse wind reverse polarity mod along with thoroughly shielding and electrically connecting the cavities on your Ric.
Search for the RWRP tutorial on here. It's well written with good photos.
This is way late but I just found your thread.
I installed Joe Barden Engineering (JBE) pickups in my 4001 to get rid of the single coil hum as well.
They do have a tone that is similar to the stock pickups.
The current owner of the JBE business is a good guy and will return emails and telephone calls.
I discovered after installing them that I needed to jumper around the capacitor on the bridge pickup.
The bridge p/u volume is reduced to an unsatisfactory level with that cap left in the circuit.
I jumpered it rather than remove it to make it easier to return the bass to original configuration.
The output seems a little lower than a healthy set of stock 4003 pickups. Not a big deal.
The bridge pickup in my 4001 was weak and highly feedback prone and was a factor in my decision to try the relatively expensive Bardens.
I had the Duncan SRB-1 pickup set installed years ago in my JetGlo 4003. Still have the receipt, it was Jan. 2000.
I tried them for the same reason of needing to get rid of the single coil hum issue on gigs with fluorescent lights etc.
Although they had a strong punchy tone, great for hard rock gigs, they sounded nothing like 4003 pickups.
I missed that special Ric tone, especially after having the opportunity to A/B with a friend's stock 4003 a few years ago.
So I reinstalled the original pickups and performed the RWRP mod.
That worked as suggested to eliminate the single coil hum so long as both volumes are full on.
I later shielded the pickup and controls cavities. That greatly reduced the hum from EMI sources.
And under the right conditions I can use the bridge pickup only (a GREAT sound) or just roll off the neck volume a bit.
So try the Bardens. Yeah, they're pricey but they do fix the single coil hum deal.
And (or) try the reverse wind reverse polarity mod along with thoroughly shielding and electrically connecting the cavities on your Ric.
Search for the RWRP tutorial on here. It's well written with good photos.
My tech just installed the JBE R4000 set in my 40003 Rick, output is lower compared to the originals, when pickups are both selected seems to be a phase problem, and tone for both is muffled, mainly the bridge pickup, when fingers off the strings some noise also. Original caps are still in the beast, no information in the wiring diagram for proper soldering of the caps provided with the set.
Can someone be of any help please?
Can someone be of any help please?
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