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Ric's tone don't do it for me anymore :( suggestions?

miholc

miholc

Aug 17, 2009
212
2
#1
I've made a search for aftermarket p-ups already and there are some choices, but... is there some direct replacement which sound more 'modern' :confused: Like some active-jazz basses do?
What if I take existing p-ups out and search for some luthier who would somehow be able to rewind p-ups (and add preamp) make them sound more for my sound taste?
Please be easy on me, I'm total noob concerning magnets/electronics I'm just thinking out loud :hmm:
Aftermarket jazz p-ups wouldn't be applicable because of string spacing right?
I just love neck of my 4003 and she's sucha looker! Or is my best bet to save some $ for j-bass :confused:
 
#3
Ric pickups are fairly bright single coils. SGD might be worth looking into. Perhaps it is the sound of the bass rather than the pickups which is not working for you? It is not going to sound like a Jazz no matter what sort of pickups are installed. For one, the pickup placement is different.
 
#5
SGD might be able to make a set for you, as 12bass said. Also, both Seymour Duncan and Bartolini make replacement Ric pickups. Apparently neither of the three replacement models sounds like the original (all are more modern), but I've never been able to find soundclips of any.
 
#6
miholc said:
I've made a search for aftermarket p-ups already and there are some choices, but... is there some direct replacement which sound more 'modern' :confused: Like some active-jazz basses do?
Click to expand...

The irony here is Ricks were always more modern sounding than Fenders! That's why they used them in prog rock so much.

But what are you looking for, a brighter tone? A fuller tone? Rickenbacker has changed the pickups over the years. My '73 4001 was always a little thin sounding, which lead me to replace the pickups. But the newer Ricks have the pickups wound a lot hotter and they are darker sounding.

A common rewind I do is to wind the Rick pickups to vintage specs for a brighter tone.
 
#7
I second David's notion to have your pickups re-wound to vintage specs. I also agree with his observation that this will make your Ric sound more 'modern' than a Fender. I took a similar path and was VERY happy with the results. I ended up purchasing these excellent reproductions of 70's era pickups made by Classic Amplification:

P1130313.jpg


P1130347.jpg
 
#8
I've often thought about buying a Ric, but I am such an active pre amp kind of guy. Has anyone put a pre amp into a Ric? that would certainly help modernize the sound, but would you still get that classic Ric tone? I'm sure the type of pre amp would play into that, would love to hear any experiences.
 
#9
I'm not sure you'd retain that Ric tone if you were to go active. The simplest way to find out would be to make (or have someone make) a simple buffer (such as an Alembic Stratoblaster or the similar Tillman preamp) and put it in a small box with a battery, an input jack, an output jack and a bypass swith. You'd plug your Ric into the input with a short cable (important for various reasons), and run another cable from the output to your amp, then switch it on and off and see if you like the brighter active sound more.
 
#11
jeffwo said:
I've often thought about buying a Ric, but I am such an active pre amp kind of guy. Has anyone put a pre amp into a Ric? that would certainly help modernize the sound, but would you still get that classic Ric tone? I'm sure the type of pre amp would play into that, would love to hear any experiences.
Click to expand...

I have been thinking about this very same thing! I have a beautiful 09 4003 (and used to have an 88 4003) but the rest of my basses are active with huge output (G&Ls & Steinberger). I have finally come to the conclusion that I "prefer" active basses and wondered if there was a preamp I could put into the Ric. My tech has a 4001 with the barts in it and that is more in that direction but I prefer the stock pups. I dont want to destroy the bass either so I thought about just getting a clean boost pedal.
 
#14
I had replaced the pickups in one of my 4001s. I put a Hi-A (Original name for Bartolini pickups) at the bridge, and had a Carvin APH-4N humbucker, both from about 1976. I also had a Hi-A TC-1 preamp. That was later replaced with the Stratoblaster and the carvin neck pickup replaced with a rewound Gibson mudbucker.

Did sound like a Rick, but it had its own vibe. It retained a certain Rick tone, because thats what they sound like unplugged.

Now I'm restoring the bass to stock condition since I'd rather have it sound like a Rick because I have other basses.
 
#16
Have you looked into different strings? I have one Ric strung with Fat Beams, and another with TI Flats. Both very Ric-like while having completely different sounds. And going from the stock Ric nickel rounds to Roto 66 steel rounds will significantly change the bass's sound also.
 
#17
wow! :eek: To be honest I have not expected so many replies,

thanks! I have 06' 4003 so I guess it has darker sounding p-ups

so I'll keep in mind to possibly rewind them to the vintage specs,

thanks David (SGD Music Products)!

Alembic's Ric aftermarket set of p-ups and preamp is what I am

looking for I believe but as AltGrendel said it's 'pricey' and at

~$600 it indeed is! So I'll have to consider about this one :p

Would love to put hands on some 4004 and probably bought it

too since I am sucker for Rics (except tone lol, but that's

only because of genre which I'm in lately) but they don't come

around here where I live. And thanks for the strings tip too,

but I've tried a looot of them. I use coated ones or

roundwounds cleaned with den. alcohol to keep that 'zing'

going!! :D

Thanks again to ALL who replied in this thread. Much

appreciated, thank you fellow TB'ers!
 

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