I'm a Ric guy, and I would totally rock one of those Jacksonbackers. Especially the snot green one.
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NBD - Yes, I bought a JacksonBacker
- Thread starter stingray69
- Start date
The Halls must be spitting nails over this thing. In years past I've known RIC to be super litigious, at least the cease & desist letters would find there way to even the smallest flea marketeers. Doesn't seem that way now. Am I correct?
I've had 2 RICs ('74 walnut 4001, '97 maple 4003). Still have kind of a love/hate thing with them.
I've had 2 RICs ('74 walnut 4001, '97 maple 4003). Still have kind of a love/hate thing with them.
I've heard the stories of C&D letters, but I don't know where things stand these days.
I thought I read on Reddit a few days ago that these models may, (or already are) being discontinued - but I have no idea if that if factual or not.
If it is true, then I wonder if it was a natural, organic discontinuation of a model that been out a few years already, or perhaps a C&D letter behind the scenes?
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All this discussion reminded me of a Schecter Stargazer Ric inspired bass I played years ago @ GC.
At the time they were equipped with factory EMG pickups but they currently offer a model with “USA Custom Shop” passive Schecter branded pickups.
I’ve not seen or heard these but might be another viable option for those wanting Ric like aesthetics but not wanting to go full blown Ric for whatever reason. The EMG version sounded & played great by the way.
At the time they were equipped with factory EMG pickups but they currently offer a model with “USA Custom Shop” passive Schecter branded pickups.
I’ve not seen or heard these but might be another viable option for those wanting Ric like aesthetics but not wanting to go full blown Ric for whatever reason. The EMG version sounded & played great by the way.
'97 Maple 4003 - Good bass, had a grounding(?) issue that I could never track down. Truss rods, of course, were more challenging. The binding was uncomfortable but I didn't care at the time, cuz I was TEAM RIC! The bridge was a challenge to adjust but was still solid as I bought it new in '97 off the rack. Styling was okay but those years produced the most boring RIC basses, IMO.
'74 Walnut 4001 - Solid, not the burst finish - looked like your mother's coffee table from the 70's! Beautiful! The truss rods were pretty much seized when I got it but luckily the neck was fine and I never needed to adjust it while I had it. The bridge was pulled up like they all did back then and was generally a hunk of crap. Still TEAM RIC, btw! I did very much like the '73 spacing on the neck pickup and the capacitor had already been removed from the tone circuit. Uncomfortable to play just like the 4003. Both were kind of thin sounding too. Sorry for that last comment, I know it strikes a nerve but it is what it is.
I would very much like to score a newer 4003s with the single truss rod and better bridge. I think I could give something like that a "forever home" but, for the time being, I'm finding the best "RIC sound" I've been chasing all my bass playing life is actually coming out of a Fender Jazz bass.
Still TEAM RIC!
Thanks for the insight - I appreciate it. Good info - and I agree, those Walnut Rics are stunning! Shame someone messed with the tone circuitry on the one you had.
Curious as to how you are obtaining your best Ric sound out of a Fender Jazz bass because some years ago here on TB, someone once sent me an A/B clip of his modified Fender Jazz vs his true Ric and they were quite literally identical to my ears. I was stunned. I'll have to dig through my old PM's to find out what he did to his Jazz to modify it to get that tone, but it was amazing. I'm very curious as to whether you have a stock Jazz or somehow modified it to sound like a Ric?
The cap actually sucks what little ass it has right out of the thing so no cap was a positive. I don't want it to seem like I was in search of that "great RIC tone" in other basses. I was probably just searching for a great 2-pup bass sound and figured RIC was the standard by which all others were measured. Clanky, janky, I play with a pick like some lunatic chimp, for reference. AND I have a measured dip in my hearing through a couple frequencies. The audiologist asked me "what do you do for a living, work a jack hammer?". Me - "No, punk rock bass player". Take everything I say about tone with a chunk of salt or disregard completely.
Having said that, my Jazz bass has Fender hand (scatter) wound pups which I've been liking. Even with my damaged ears, compared to an AmPro2, the CS pups sound like my sinuses have just opened up after having a head cold. Big... airy... lots of overtones and very dynamic. AmPro2 I demo'd was more focused. LOL! But now I'm having to jack the mids in a band rehearsal situation to get my sound more focused... D'OH! Thus, describing my whole tone quest through the decades.
We might all be best served by getting a Reverend Thundergun and calling it a day!
I overall like mine, the different pickup positions form normal give it an excellent bridge only sound for more aggressive playing and neck only sound for deeper tones and they seem to blend well. It's pretty dark to my ears though, I wants a low clanky action to counteract that.
Thinking of swapping pickups and maybe even the preamp. But my head is bouncing full of ideas from a Wilde PJ set, to weirder combos to routing for a soapbar sized pickup or even putting in a filter based pre.
___
But anyways, what is the talk about not being able to remove the nut though? Is that something I should be concerned about in the long term? (Not super well versed on instrument maintenance,.never had to mess with nuts before)
Thinking of swapping pickups and maybe even the preamp. But my head is bouncing full of ideas from a Wilde PJ set, to weirder combos to routing for a soapbar sized pickup or even putting in a filter based pre.
___
But anyways, what is the talk about not being able to remove the nut though? Is that something I should be concerned about in the long term? (Not super well versed on instrument maintenance,.never had to mess with nuts before)
Kind of hard to look at it when your playing it, which you should be doing more than looking at it..lol!!!
Thanks for the insight - I'm going to have to go back and find if the other TB'er was using scatter wound pickups by chance.
Sounds like were cut from the same cloth - always on a tone quest, lots of trial & error, experimentation but getting ever closer to the goal.
Big, open, airy, lots of overtones, dynamic - these are great adjectives to describe the JacksonBacker too. Which is why I'm probably drawn to it. It makes all my other P/J combos sounds very....congested...too mid scooped. Which, I normally would not have heard until the pickup placement in the Jackson has shown me otherwise. The extra separation between the P & J pickups in the Jackson will obviously affect the frequency cancellations of the 2 pickups in different areas than it would in a standard P/J. I believe this is what I am hearing in the Jackson - at least this particular Jackson model. Also probably why it lends itself to a Ric-ish tone as well. The P pickup being deeper than a standard position P and the J adding the bite, it does lend itself to the "bass" and "treble" pickup concept of a Ric.
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The unique pickup placement on the Jackson is key to its unique tone - absolutely.
Not sure what the rest of your gear is like, but I can tell you a SansAmp really helps bring out the clank beautifully. Some other things I've done to both of mine are to fret level them so that I can drop the action quite low - really helps with digging in & getting that clank as well. Of course, fresh round-wound are a necessity.
I've thought about the same things too, and I have a Lusithand filter pre sitting around unused from a project that never fully developed, but for now I'm happy with the things above for all my clank needs.
Maybe in time I'll experiment with all that, but I really don't want to lose the overall tone too much. But I guess everything is reversible, save the time it takes to install everything.
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Sorry, but I haven't heard or read anything regarding trouble removing the nut. Most nut work (lowering the nut slots, if needed) is usually performed on the existing nut while it is already installed on the instrument. Unless you are going to change it out for a new one, maybe a brass nut, or maybe shave an existing one down from the bottom of the nut on some sandpaper something, I can't think of any legit reason why one would want or need to remove the nut. Let alone experience any trouble doing so. Its just your standard issue plastic nut on both of mine, I wouldn't anticipate any trouble removing them if needed. Even if the manufacturer used too much glue to keep it in place, it can still be extracted by dremel tool, other methods, etc., so IDK. I'm at a loss as to what that discussion could be about.
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I quit playing for about 8 years and this was the bass I bought when I decided to start playing again. I friggin love this thing, it's fast, not too heavy, and you can get almost any sound you want out of it. I got it in the matte green with the black shark fin inlays, I recently put a set of the DR Black Beauties on it, and dang does it shred. I do love the fact that when I bring it out of the case at a gig people are always like "what is that" they usually act surprised when I say it's a Jackson... lol
