Hi! My first post here, and I'm glad there's so much Rickenbacker talk.
A few things. I have 3 Rics, a '75 and a '76 4001 and an '88 4003-8 8-String bass, which someone asked about a ways back in this thread. I've always played in the Ric-o-sound mode, first with the clumsy little box that Ric sends, which really is a ridiculous item. The attached cable is way too short and you have this stupid little metal box following you around 6 feet away all the time clanking around on the stage. Maybe they've changed them since, but this was how it was when I got it new in 1975 with mine. I ended up getting a nice 20 foot stereo cable that terminated in two mono plugs - perfect. There is nothing like the options you can get this way. Separate amps, separate effects on each pickup, etc. One setup I used in the past was the bass pickup going thru an eq with some beefy bass dialed up on it into an Ampeg SVT and two 18" speakers. The treble pickup went through a digital delay/reverb and an eq which boosted the mids/treble into an old Sound City 200w amp and on to two 4x12" cabinets. What a sound! I now use different amps into two 18"s and four 10"s, but the idea is the same, just easier to move around.
As for the 8 String, man I love this bass! What a kick ass instrument! I did have to do some mods, though. For starters, it's wired in mono, so at some point I may re-wire it to stereo. But it sounds great as is, so I've been putting it off. What I did change, though is the string arrangement. It comes with the strings in four courses, set up in octaves, like a 12-string guitar.
But the Rickenbacker string arrangement is such that on a Downstroke the first string you hit is the lower octave string. I hate that. I prefer it like my 12 string, I like to hit that higher octave first, it gives you a nice springy, chimey, lively attack, followed by the meat and fundamental of the lower string. In the Rickenbacker standard arrangement I often found that once I'd hit the much fatter lower octave string then I'd almost always overshoot the higher octave string, missing it completely with my pick. Also, on the downstroke, the low octave string would almost invariably get plowed right into the higher string and flub up the attack on that string, even if I did hit it. Once I had reversed the string arrangement, I hit the high octave and the pick naturally comes in direct contact with the lower octave immediately afterwards. So I ended up reversing them, which means a new nut, filed so the strings fit into the grooves. Actually, I cheated on this, as an experiment I just filed the smaller slots to fit the fatter strings, and I superglued a small piece of a thin pick into the fat slots so that the thinner high octave string would fit better. Now that I know I like it all better that way, I'll have a new nut done right. As for the bridge grooves, I really didn't find that to be a problem at all, although you'd think it might be. That would be a major hassle I think, for limited payback. I don't have a problem with it, so it'll stay the way it is.
One other thing about the 8 string. When I got it it was pure white. I got it with the chrome hardware and white pickguard. Beautiful.!! After a while though it slowly started changing colour, and now it's somewhere between a cream and a faded yellowish colour, not too far from the standard finish on the Chris Squire limited edition model. And it still looks great! When I ordered it, the guy at Rickenbacker said that white was the only colour they couldn't guarantee to stay the same. He didn't lie.
This is a really cool site you have here. I'm glad I found it. I'm gonna have to try out that capacitor removal mod, sounds like it would be a nice thing to try. Thanks, guys! My '76 Ric is there solely for experimentation now, I got it for a great price many years ago and I've used it as a backup, with an alternate tuning, and now I figure it will be my experimental bass. Everything gets tried on that one before doing anything to my baby, the blue '75.
Well, that's it, hope my long diatribe didn't bore anyone.
Ummm,,,, you can wake up now.
