New Rickenbacker 5 String Reviews

Some of us don't consider it a downgrade.

 

A new Rick 5? The one with the little bitty nacho picukps?

 

I have not played one … but from what I can tell they finally got the 5 string bass thing right … after 2 previous tries

 

New Rickenbacker 5 String

 

I've had the Mapleglo for a few months, and the Walnut just arrived a couple of days ago. I prefer the Walnut as it's lighter, about 8.6 pounds (as opposed to over 9.5 pounds for the maple), and I prefer maple fingerboards. They both sound like Rics, despite the triangular pickups. I also prefer an unbound body with rounded edges - more comfortable. I added the Zero Mod thumb rest to both (no new pic on the Walnut just yet), and vintage knobs for both (knobs for the Walnut haven't arrived yet). These are the only mods I've planned.

On the downside, they are both a little neck heavy. Let go of the neck, and it'll drop so that it's parallel to the floor. If I were more adventurous, I might swap out the tuners for Hipshot Ultralites, but it's not so bad that I'm compelled to do so. And that's really the only downside.

I like the wider, flat backed neck, and I'm glad they kept the push/pull control on the tone. More versatile sound options. I play in a country band, and this bass fits in perfectly. It'll do a nice Chris Squire sound too. So in the tone department, it's just like any of the 4003s I've owned in the past. I've been used to tighter string spacings, like 15 mm on my other 5 string basses, but got used to this wider spacing fairly easily.

I keep saying I'll do a video or audio sample, but haven't gotten to it yet. Someday...

 

I just played a sunburst one an hour ago at the Hartke Bass lounge in NYC.

First: I have to go on record that I despise 5-string bass guitars, I briefly owned "a very nice one" a couple of years ago and never will again. Just not for me.

But this is the newest Rickenbacker, so I could not leave the store without giving it a playtest.

I have to say, amazing bass.

PROS:
** very comfortable neck - nice profile, and not too thick
** Nut width pretty small, and string spacing too- so overall, this is not the annoyingly WIDE 5-string neck that I personally find uncomfortable to navigate
** quality perfect, very nice hardware, perfect finish
** rather low playing action ( comfortable!)
** pickups HIGH OUTPUT and low noise - they must be humbuckers, cause there was zero audible hum no matter how I turned the bass
** PASSIVE BASS ( no friggin noisy hissy preamp to be annoyed by!)

A very wide range of tones out of the VVTT, 3-position toggle, plus the pull-pot for the vintage tone control.
I could not get a sound I didn't like out of this bass, if had been a 4-string I would certainly have purchased it (No body binding, so a lot more comfortable for me than most typical [bound] Rickenbackers...)

I didn't think to take any photos in the shop, but below is a recent picture of it (or another identical bass - pic lifted off of Hartke facebook page...)

 

The Photo Shopped-in cat is an interesting touch.

 

So I played one of these in a store today and was disappointed. I was sure I was going to buy it until I heard those pickups. I don't know what they were smoking when they came up with those. The tone changes markedly as you go from the low strings to the high strings, like the D and G strings sound like they are from a completely different bass than the B and E strings. And.... it doesn't really sound like a Ric anymore, even with the vintage pot engaged. I think if I ever bought one I would immediately change the pickups to get something more Ricky in tone and you know, a uniform tone across the strings. Ugh. What a bummer.

 

The only one I've played, so far, was set up great. Not sure if it came that way or the folks at SA did a set up, but my one experience was a very positive one.

 

Hmmm, both of mine sound like Ric's and have pretty even volume and tone across the strings. Perhaps that one was a bad one?

 

Very intrigued with the 5s. Considering trading my 4 string 4003s FG for one...not so sure about the B string on the sub 34" scale neck though...
Rock on

 

Am I right in thinking that the pickups in the five-string are what they look like: they get wider for the lower strings and thinner for the high strings? If that's the case, there's no way the tone wouldn't change as you go from low strings to high strings, because the pickup is picking up a different ratio of the strings' vibrations.

 

Don't know what the internal construction is like. They sound very Ric-like and even to me. No complaints here. In fact, I bought two.

 

I have one and I love it! It solved all of my past Ric problems. Every time I got one and took it to a gig, I would wish the whole time that I had brought my 5 string bass. Also I don’t enjoy tearing my hands up playing over that horseshoe pickup mess after it’s been removed. To me the extra mass of the 5 string gives it more oomph too, but the tone is 100 % Ric 4003. I don’t need shark fins and binding, but then again, I’m not a purist for Ric anyway. Don’t hesitate to buy one if you
A. Don’t mind tight spacing
B. Prefer Passive 5 string bass
C. Want as many tonal options on one bass as possible along with cool styling and looks.

Pass on it if:
A. You’re a Ric Purist
B. Need Wide Spacing
C. The pickup design turns you off. (It shouldn’t, it’s actually way better than the original)

One final note, I find that even tho it’s hard to do, keeping the original string gauges Ric ships these Basses with, is key to keeping it playing and sounding great! 45-55-75-105-115. Caveat, Rickenbacker doesn’t sell 5 string sets nor do they sell B strings and customer service was extremely rude to me when I expressed my frustration on this.

 

I own one. One of the Nicest Basses I've ever Owned. It's so Comforting to see RIC move into the Future. New Shapes (Pups), New Colors, etc. This Bass is NOTHING like their previous attempt.