An idea that I had was to lower the height of the bridge pickup to simulate the lower output of the 4001's bridge pickup. That way when I have both pickups on (which is my preferred setting) it may get a little closer to the sound. Any thoughts?
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NBD - Rickenbacker Imbassenator
- Thread starter jallenbass
- Start date
I think you're close.
I know you said you had the pickups wired straight to the jack, but are they wired in phase with each other?
I ask because I still detect a bit of the traditional Jazz "scoop" and I'm missing the Ric's slightly middy "knock".
Part of a Ric's charm is the pickups are wired in phase with zero hum cancelling. unlike a Jazz bass where the pickups act like a big humbucker when their volumes are equal.
Experimenting with wiring the pickups in phase (same polarity) may make a difference.
Just a thought.
And if you've already got the p'ups wired in phase then I got nothing.
I know you said you had the pickups wired straight to the jack, but are they wired in phase with each other?
I ask because I still detect a bit of the traditional Jazz "scoop" and I'm missing the Ric's slightly middy "knock".
Part of a Ric's charm is the pickups are wired in phase with zero hum cancelling. unlike a Jazz bass where the pickups act like a big humbucker when their volumes are equal.
Experimenting with wiring the pickups in phase (same polarity) may make a difference.
Just a thought.
And if you've already got the p'ups wired in phase then I got nothing.
Here's a clip of the pickups out of phase I think. I swapped one of the pickups black and white wires.
I repeated the posting of the first clip for easy comparison.
I repeated the posting of the first clip for easy comparison.
That is a fairly convincing replication of the 'classic' Rickenbacker middle position, when the .0047 cap was still being used. My Rick originally came wired like that, although I have since added the push/pull knob to bypass it. But when I put the cap back in the signal, it sounds quite like your bass sounds in that clip. nice work!
I'm going to stay with my original wiring for now since that seems to be a more usable sound for me. In the future I may install a phase switch and separate volumes for each pickup.
It sounds good. I did put a set of balanced tension D'Addarios on and they helped a lot.
Ric5
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- Jan 29, 2008
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- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Great plan. I prefer the Jazz tone to a Ric anyway but I asked about the phase suggestion in the spirit of knowing you were going for the Ric tone.
Great work.
I played it at rehearsal last night and am very pleased with the sound. While it may not be a real Rickenbacker sound it is a great pickstyle sound that will serve me well.
Total weight = 8.5 lbs due to the chambering. Very comfortable on the shoulder.
Total weight = 8.5 lbs due to the chambering. Very comfortable on the shoulder.
I just put in the .0047 cap in line with the treble pickup to get the vintage wiring sound and here is the before and after.
With a SPDT switch I can have "more like a jazz" sound and "more like a Ric" sound. That seems to be a useful feature.
Sounds like something I might do to my jazz in the future. I was debating whether or not to replace the bridge pickup with a ric one, because I really hate the sound of the bridge pickup solo'ed
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
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- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Pickup type and location matters.
Ric5 made a couple of bolt on SG bodied basses using RIC pickups and locations and it sounded very much like a 4001/4003.
A Jazz still sounds quite a bit like a Jazz, probably until you change pickup locations.
You'd end up ruining the J body, better to start from scratch and build a bass using the right locations.
You will then get the sound you're looking for.
Ric5 made a couple of bolt on SG bodied basses using RIC pickups and locations and it sounded very much like a 4001/4003.
A Jazz still sounds quite a bit like a Jazz, probably until you change pickup locations.
You'd end up ruining the J body, better to start from scratch and build a bass using the right locations.
You will then get the sound you're looking for.
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
You have that bass wired with 1 toggle and 1 volume control. That will not get you the Ric tone. Get a Ric wiring harness and drop it in. 2 vol and 2 tone and 1 toggle. Then turn all 4 knobs to 10 and back off the neck volume until you hit the sweet spot.
I did add a volume control for the neck pickup only so now I have master volume, neck volume, .0047mfd capacitor bypass switch for the bridge pickup and pickup selector switch. Here is a sound clip demonstrating some variations.
1. Volumes up and capacitor bypassed
2. Neck pickup volume rolled back 1/4 or so and capacitor bypassed
3. Volumes up and capacitor engaged
4. Neck pickup volume rolled back 1/4 of so and capacitor engaged
None have exactly the tone I'm looking for but I now have a wide variety of tones to choose from and they will all be useful to me.
1. Volumes up and capacitor bypassed
2. Neck pickup volume rolled back 1/4 or so and capacitor bypassed
3. Volumes up and capacitor engaged
4. Neck pickup volume rolled back 1/4 of so and capacitor engaged
None have exactly the tone I'm looking for but I now have a wide variety of tones to choose from and they will all be useful to me.
