Rickenbackers

Current model that would sound the closest would be the 4003. Quite similar to the 4001 IMO.

England's distributor:
Rosetti Limited, 4 Tamdown Way, Braintree, Essex, CM7 7QL
Tel: 44-1376-550033 Fax: 44-1376-550042
Email: music@rosetti.co.uk

 

I've played both the 4001 and the 4003. While I didn't play them side by side IMO they sounded exactly the same. btw I own the 4003 and it is an amazing instrument.

 

Cliff's Ric was often drenched in effects, and it had different pickups anyway.
do a google search for them, they'r quite easy to get hold of. If you are near central london there are a few places that stock them.

 

Drenched with effects?

A fuzz/distortion that he used + wah isn't drenched, IMO.

Cliff's rickenbacker had a Gibson EB-O neck humbucker in the neck position and a 70's jazz bass pickup in the bridge area.

 

Yeah, the 4003 is the same thing as a 4001, except that it has a redesigned truss rod system that's stronger than the 4001's (which was designed with low-tension flatwounds in mind, though many players over the years have used other strings with no ill effects.)

The only other major difference was that the 4001 had a capacitor in series with the bridge pickup to cut some bass response and make the instrument brighter sounding (think Chris Squire and Geddy Lee who capitalized on this), and the 4003 didn't, but as of late 2005, new 4003's coming off the line have this capacitor back in, with a push-pull pot to take it in and out of the circuit. So yeah, instant 4001 at the pull of a knob.

 

You should take a few hours to read through this thread on Ric's.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=433&highlight=Rickenbacker

Everything you'll want to know about Rickenbacker basses is in there.

TD

 

Well yeah, but it's not like there's 4500 effects on, just heavy distortion + that power wah.

But yeah, even without the effects Cliff's rick was different.

 

The chain Sound Control sometimes stock them here in the UK, there's likely to be one close to you, there's a 4003 in my local Leeds Sound Control. www.soundcontrol.co.uk .

 

No, they are just the UK distributor (the official importers who then sell on to music shops). Rickenbackers are fairly common in the UK. Expect to pay around the £1000 mark for a new 4003 (give or take perhaps £100 either side of that). A clean used one can be picked up for £700 (maybe a bit less if you get lucky). There's a few auctions running on www.ebay.co.uk at the moment.

From your profile, I'm guessing that you're in the Oxford area. It's not far on the train to London, and you'll have no prob finding a Ricky there.

 

Yeah, pretty cool. Here's the official PR: http://www.rickenbacker.com/news_item.asp?news_id=25&news=recent

 

So is this Cap Mod available for those of us with earlier 4003's

 

Recently, on the Ric forums, people were asking this ? of Ric service . "will the push pull pot cap upgrade be available in the boutique as an add on?"
To my knowledge they have never answered that. I would buy it in a minute, I just missed it by a couple of months.

I am sure you could do it fairly easily, Ric has the wiring diagrams on the website and it shows a shunt WHERE the cap used to be. You would just need some knowledge of schematics and know how to wire up a push pull to have both circuits on demand, one with pot in , other with pot out.

I am not ready to open mine up yet, maybe when I restring it? I wonder how many other bassists did this on their own and Ric took notice and made it standard. It's not rocket science , it's basic electronics

 

Noooo
Rosetti is the UK Distributor - check their website for a list of dealers they distribute to !!
If you want a new one you will have to order it & be prepared to wait, unless you land dead lucky like I did last weekend when I went to my local music shop to get some wall hangers only to find they had a brand new 4003 Blue Boy on sale !! I thought about it for around 10 nanoseconds then bought it - it is GORGEOUS !!

 

www.gak.co.uk rickenbacker 4003 £960