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Ric owners: how do you like to blend your pickups?

kmon

kmon

Supporting Member
May 11, 2009
3,012
5,205
Chocolate Disneyland
#1
Hey all! I acquired my first Ric recently, an 81 4003. It plays great and is seriously growing on me.

The sound in my head is aggressive and clanky, kind of that thing that Rics do so well and so uniquely. I’m not getting it at all with both pickups full on, but hot damn when I roll back the neck pickup volume maybe 10 to 20%…oh yeah…there it is.

In looking into it I’d found some validation for this approach being one tonal sweet spot.

Any comments, ideas, tricks? What do you do with the knobs on your Ric? Do you ever play with just one pickup?
 
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#4
It's personally subjective. The one and only setting that I never use is both volumes full on. That gives you the comb filter effect which is similar but not identical to a phase conflict between the two pickups. Just back off one of the volumes from the wide open position and it goes away. Check it out, you can't miss it.
If you like both volumes wide open, go right ahead.
 
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#9
kmon said:
I don’t have the push/pull in the 81, I have been curious about a mod though…does it buy you a lot?
Click to expand...
Pulled out = bass blocking capacitor is in the circuit. < Blocks bass and also creates some phasing effect.
Pushed in = bass blocking capacitor is bypassed. < This lets more bass through from the bridge pickup, and also eliminates some of the phasing fun.

I'd say that pulled out helps to maximize the distinctive Ric thing when mixing pickups.
 
#10
When I was gigging, pulled the push/pull pot out, used the "bridge only" position with a pick on a couple of more aggressive sounding songs (was in a surf/instro band), fingerstyle and neck only for the ones that were more in "upright bass" territory, but mostly the in-between position. All volumes and tones on full, because I'm simple.
 
#11
kmon said:
awesome…good reason for a second amp
Click to expand...
I run mine either into 2 mini ampeg rigs, or the bridge to an orange terror into 410 fender rumble cab, and neck into a very clean amp into a rumble 115. I put all my pedals on the bridge pup. Maybe a compressor on the neck aswell.

There is some other stuff I do involving several other amps with a stereo pan pedal, like the lester G, but thats too complicated unless youre very into soundscaping.

Depending on the sound youre after, might be good to experiment with strings too, our friend @tsarter uses flats on his ricks, for example.
 
#12
When I played a '76 4001 in college jazz band in the early '80's, I usually had the neck pickup dimed and brought up the bridge pickup just enough to get a good blend in the mix, tone knobs dimed, into a Polytone 1X15 100w Mini Brute amp that was just big enough to mount the speaker. Imagine a solid-state version of an Ampeg B15, with a similar compliant paper cone speaker: volume, bass, treble, bright/normal/dark switch. No other amp brought out the tone properly for jazz band application for a 4001. I used first generation D'Addario Reds on it before they quit making them, and then the string safari was on.
 
Last edited:
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#14
kmon said:
Hey all! I acquired my first Ric recently, an 81 4003. It plays great and is seriously growing on me.

The sound in my head is aggressive and clanky, kind of that thing that Rics do so well and so uniquely. I’m not getting it at all with both pickups full on, but hot damn when I roll back the neck pickup volume maybe 10 to 20%…oh yeah…there it is.

In looking into it I’d found some validation for this approach being one tonal sweet spot.

Any comments, ideas, tricks? What do you do with the knobs on your Ric? Do you ever play with just one pickup?
Click to expand...
I don’t worry about such things. I run ROS all the time…it’s a whole different instrument.
I make lots of knob changes…whatever the song or feeling calls for.
 
#15
kmon said:
Hey all! I acquired my first Ric recently, an 81 4003. It plays great and is seriously growing on me.

The sound in my head is aggressive and clanky, kind of that thing that Rics do so well and so uniquely. I’m not getting it at all with both pickups full on, but hot damn when I roll back the neck pickup volume maybe 10 to 20%…oh yeah…there it is.

In looking into it I’d found some validation for this approach being one tonal sweet spot.

Any comments, ideas, tricks? What do you do with the knobs on your Ric? Do you ever play with just one pickup?
Click to expand...
I use pretty much the same setting, but not for clank, just definition.
 
#16
My first bass was a Rick 4001 - back in college. I used the bridge pickup (with the bass cut capacitor bypassed) pretty much all the time, and goosed the bass knob on my amp a bit to make up for the lost low end. The neck pickup was just too muddy in my rig at that time.
 
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#18
Ric owners: how do you like to blend your pickups?

If you have the vintage hi pass capacitor installed, then open all knobs to 10.

Without the cap open up all knobs and then roll off the neck volume to about 8.

or you can add a 4 band Audere preamp like this modified 4004 below.

DSCF1215.JPG

 
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#20
To me a neck pickup placed way up at the fingerboard is always too boomy and muddy, Ric or any other bass.
I sunk the neck pickup down as far as it would go for adjustment. There was a couple of rubber grommets under the pickup, I took those out.
So I run both volume knobs wide open, and the pickup set that way only adds just enough boom for me, lets the rear pickup shine.
 
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