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Rickenbacker 4003 Bridge Pickup Low Output?

#21
Korladis said:
I similarly never play slap style, but I'm a bridge pickup guy. I only use the neck pickup for quiet parts of songs.
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Hehe, whereas, I tend to use the nick pickup more for the louder parts of songs. :) May be part of why I'm not gettin' any gigs lately. :D Hey, neighbors haven't called the cops on me since my old band kicked me out, over a decade ago. :D:D
 
#22
bholder said:
Hehe, whereas, I tend to use the nick pickup more for the louder parts of songs. :) May be part of why I'm not gettin' any gigs lately. :D Hey, neighbors haven't called the cops on me since my old band kicked me out, over a decade ago. :D:D
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I have the high gain bridge pickup and toaster neck pickup. I like the high gain for the louder bits because it overdrives the amp a bit more and is just generally more mean and nasty sounding.

The neck toaster's more round and "pillowy" sound is a nice contrast.
 
#23
rgOO6 said:
Hello, ......................... I have also noticed that with the pickup selector in the middle, I can turn my bass pickup down on the bass by about 1/5 of a turn and the volume gets louder, not quieter......
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This is not a problem, it's a manifestation of how the two pickups work together and the distance between them.
They naturally comb filter mid frequencies somewhat at equal volume settings, but when the neck pup is reduced slightly, and apparent boost in volume occurs.
It's really just the mid frequencies becoming less filtered.
This has been apparent on all 2 pickup Rick basses to my knowledge.

The problem is that the pickups are wound pretty hot and there's not a lot of adjustment range available, so finding the sweet spot is a little fiddly.
Just be patient and it can be done.
I usually use a VU meter to roughly balance pickup output.
 
#27
Korladis said:
Ah, well then, reverse my instructions. :p

Personally I prefer the louder bridge pickup, but different strokes.
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I do actually like the bridge pickup sound more than the neck, and I could honestly do without the neck pickup entirely. This is my first Rick, so I am just trying to learn as much as I can about them. Just did my first truss rod adjustment yesterday.
 
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#29
rgOO6 said:
I do actually like the bridge pickup sound more than the neck, and I could honestly do without the neck pickup entirely. This is my first Rick, so I am just trying to learn as much as I can about them. Just did my first truss rod adjustment yesterday.
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As mentioned, what I like to do with the neck pickup is use it for a really quick dynamic/tone change. The bridge pickup soloed is my main sound.
 
#30
PaulBoyer said:
You've probably already considered this, but just in case: There is a push-pull pot on the treble pickup tone control. Pulling it out gives you the "vintage tone" by engaging a .0047 microfarad capacitor, and it makes the treble pickup sound weaker; pushing it back down (in) bypasses the cap giving the treble pickup more balls. It could be you've been fighting against this all this time. Just sayin'.
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Aw nuts. I just removed my pup guard (why the hell in 2021 it's there is beyond me). While trying to balance the neck / br pup outputs I ended up with the bridge pup way down in comparison to what it was like from the factory. Anyway as you said, I had the bloody thing on vintage mode. Popped it back to standard and re did it on standard. I think that was my issue, so kudos for mentioning that. I am not sure the OP acknowledged your post but it helped me.
 

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