Rockinbetter 4003

[bill reed]

here is a coupls of pics of my new Rockingbetter 4003.
was impressed by just how nice this bass is.
it had a thu-maple-neck with maple top and bottom inlay.
the neck feels really nice and it also sounds nice too.
got the bass from "Rich tone music" and the bass arived set up and in tune!!!
really friendly guys at Rich tone music and very helpful too.
does it sound like a "Ric" i dont have one to compair but judgng by you-tube clips its close.
well worth the £410 i paid.

 

[Meddle]

Sweet bass. They have a white one at Rick tone that I'm eyeing up once in a while. Got any clips? They've changed the Rockinbetter design over the years. They used to put jazz style pickup covers on the bridge pickups but I see they've copied the bridge pickup more faithfully.

 

[bill reed]

was really shocked at just how good this bass is for the money. really good sound, using it on clean on my line 6 bass amp and its well worth a look if you intrested. don't think you will be disapointed

 

[Duke21]

Sweet bass. They have a white one at Rick tone that I'm eyeing up once in a while. Got any clips? They've changed the Rockinbetter design over the years. They used to put jazz style pickup covers on the bridge pickups but I see they've copied the bridge pickup more faithfully.

The pup cover looks nothing like the pup cover on a real Ric. The Rockinbetter looks nice and sound fine for its price. There some Ric tone in there, but not as good as a real one. I think it worth it's price.

 

[iriegnome]

Chinese made ric's are about $325 +/- USD. Also they tend to be a different scale length than the original Ric's

 

[bill reed]

Chinese made ric's are about $325 +/- USD. Also they tend to be a different scale length than the original Ric's

over here in the uk a good second hand Rockenbetter will cost you £350 to £400, Rich tone music have droped there price from £469 to £399 for a new one, when i got mine on monday! but it back up to £469 again now. still think its worth it as it plays really well.
you are right about the diffrent scale as it to frets longer but the bridge had no dampning and the bridge is a inch or two away from the rear edge of the bass. no problem intonating it and i like there bridge, not the bad-ass type.

 

[SirMjac28]

great looking bass but for 762.00 US makes since for us on this side of the pond to get a real Rick

 

[bill reed]

great looking bass but for 762.00 US makes since for us on this side of the pond to get a real Rick

over here in the Uk a good second hand ric would set you back £900 to £1500 so the Rockingbetter is about 1/3 of a second hand Ric

 

[iriegnome]

I guess sometimes we here in the US forget that US made basses have to be exported and are much more expensive that way.

 

[12stringbassist]

The couple I've heard don't sound like a Ric.

 

[bill reed]

The couple I've heard don't sound like a Ric.

I think it depends on what you class a ric sound.
Be it McCartney. Lemmy. Chris Squires.
i think my Rockinbetter does sound like McCartney sound, i can get it to sound like his "Wings" sound. also a bit like Lemmy when with Hawkwind. not tried to get the Chris Squiers sound as i'm not keen on "YES"

 

[Baker69]

Hi Bill,

Congrats on the new bass!

You may have seen my postings on my Rockinbetter (including photo) which I have upgraded with all genuine Ric components. I have just submitted another posting on another topic which you may care to read. I would agree, they are a very well made bass. The bridge is possibly better than an actual Ric one IMHO!

I doubt very much if you would get a Chris Squire sound out of it unfortunately, (even people with the same model he has struggle to do that).

Time to think about putting some Ric pickups on it mate - even if only the neck pickup (although you would need to replace the pickguard to accommodate one). I replaced both pickups on mine and put the vintage push-pull tone kit on, really makes a huge difference. The stock bridge pickup is quite powerful though, I measured it at 10.98 ohms!

All the best, and keep rockin'!

 

[bill reed]

Hi Bill,

Congrats on the new bass!

You may have seen my postings on my Rockinbetter (including photo) which I have upgraded with all genuine Ric components. I have just submitted another posting on another topic which you may care to read. I would agree, they are a very well made bass. The bridge is possibly better than an actual Ric one IMHO!

I doubt very much if you would get a Chris Squire sound out of it unfortunately, (even people with the same model he has struggle to do that).

Time to think about putting some Ric pickups on it mate - even if only the neck pickup (although you would need to replace the pickguard to accommodate one). I replaced both pickups on mine and put the vintage push-pull tone kit on, really makes a huge difference. The stock bridge pickup is quite powerful though, I measured it at 10.98 ohms!

All the best, and keep rockin'!

Hi Baker
it was looking at pictures of your Rockinbetter that helped me finaly get a Mapleglo 4003. i think the bridge pick-up is good like you say but the neck pick-up is also good on my bass. i would like to mod the push-pull tone. could you tell me where you got your kit from to do that. i have looked but only found third party switch controls.
I really love the picture of your bass. how did you get such a wonder shine! my maple glo top is nice but i think i'll have to put a few more coats of pollish on it to get even close to how yours looks.

 

[Baker69]

Hi Baker
it was looking at pictures of your Rockinbetter that helped me finaly get a Mapleglo 4003. i think the bridge pick-up is good like you say but the neck pick-up is also good on my bass. i would like to mod the push-pull tone. could you tell me where you got your kit from to do that. i have looked but only found third party switch controls.
I really love the picture of your bass. how did you get such a wonder shine! my maple glo top is nice but i think i'll have to put a few more coats of pollish on it to get even close to how yours looks.

Hi Bill,

Did nothing to get the shine mate, that's how it is! (Some sort of polyurethane coating I would have thought). It might be a different finish on the RG4001 than the RG4003 that you have?

I treated the fingerboard with either neck-oil or gunstock oil (can't remember which now). It's a shame that Rockinbetter didn't use a lighter wood on the fingerboards, they are too dark really.

Yes, I was after a lefty one in the Mapleglo finish myself from Rich Tone but they were struggling to get more lefties in and I happened to drop on this used Rockinbetter RG4001 for a very reasonable price and it looks to have been hardly used. I keep thinking about selling it as i now have a Ric 4001, but then I play it again and change my mind!

I got all my Ric components (including the Vintage Tone Switch) from Soundmeout (do a web search, they also have an E-Bay Shop). Very nice guy, very friendly and helpful. Rickysounds also do the Vintage Tone kits, they're somewhere between £ 20-25 on average. I'm not sure how this would work with non-Ric pickups but in theory it should, I would enquire on the 'Rickresource' Forum if I were you though.

Please note - if you do get a vintage tone kit you will need to replace the Tone Control knob as well with a Ric one as the Rockinbetter one's won't fit on that shaft size.

Bill - also note that the Vintage Tone kit works by putting a capacitor inline to cut off a lot of the bass frequencies from the bridge pickup in order to get the classic 70's Ric 4001 tone, if you don't like this sort of sound (and you have already intimated that you like Macca's sound), then this may not be for you.

Cheers,

Baker

 

[bill reed]

Hi Bill,

Did nothing to get the shine mate, that's how it is! (Some sort of polyurethane coating I would have thought). It might be a different finish on the RG4001 than the RG4003 that you have?

I treated the fingerboard with either neck-oil or gunstock oil (can't remember which now). It's a shame that Rockinbetter didn't use a lighter wood on the fingerboards, they are too dark really.

Yes, I was after a lefty one in the Mapleglo finish myself from Rich Tone but they were struggling to get more lefties in and I happened to drop on this used Rockinbetter RG4001 for a very reasonable price and it looks to have been hardly used. I keep thinking about selling it as i now have a Ric 4001, but then I play it again and change my mind!

I got all my Ric components (including the Vintage Tone Switch) from Soundmeout (do a web search, they also have an E-Bay Shop). Very nice guy, very friendly and helpful. Rickysounds also do the Vintage Tone kits, they're somewhere between £ 20-25 on average. I'm not sure how this would work with non-Ric pickups but in theory it should, I would enquire on the 'Rickresource' Forum if I were you though.

Please note - if you do get a vintage tone kit you will need to replace the Tone Control knob as well with a Ric one as the Rockinbetter one's won't fit on that shaft size.

Bill - also note that the Vintage Tone kit works by putting a capacitor inline to cut off a lot of the bass frequencies from the bridge pickup in order to get the classic 70's Ric 4001 tone, if you don't like this sort of sound (and you have already intimated that you like Macca's sound), then this may not be for you.

Cheers,

Baker

hi Baker
thanks so much for your advice. i think i'll leave the Tone mod for now. i did add in some 47mf caps to my beatles bass as it has no tone controls on them and there was not a big diffrence. i do get a nice amound of control on my 4003 though.
what strings do you use on your Rickinbetter!!!
thanks again for the useful advice

 

[Baker69]

hi Baker
thanks so much for your advice. i think i'll leave the Tone mod for now. i did add in some 47mf caps to my beatles bass as it has no tone controls on them and there was not a big diffrence. i do get a nice amound of control on my 4003 though.
what strings do you use on your Rickinbetter!!!
thanks again for the useful advice

The vintage capacitor they use on Rics is a .0047 and they use .047 capacitors on the normal tone controls.

The only strings to use on a Ric or Ric copy are Rotosounds! I use those on my Rockinbetter and Ric 4001 exclusively in order to get that vintage growl, and it's what most people use on Rics.

If you want to go for the Macca sound though a set of D'Addario Chromes would sound nice, ie. a set of flatwounds

 

[bill reed]

The vintage capacitor they use on Rics is a .0047 and they use .047 capacitors on the normal tone controls.

The only strings to use on a Ric or Ric copy are Rotosounds! I use those on my Rockinbetter and Ric 4001 exclusively in order to get that vintage growl, and it's what most people use on Rics.

If you want to go for the Macca sound though a set of D'Addario Chromes would sound nice, ie. a set of flatwounds

what kind of Rotosounds do you use. i have Rotosound tru bass 88s on my beatles bass and my 5 string fretless. not sure how they would sound on the Rockinbetter. dont think the strings that came with the bass are that great.
if you can tell me what ones you use i'll order a set!

 

[Baker69]

what kind of Rotosounds do you use. i have Rotosound tru bass 88s on my beatles bass and my 5 string fretless. not sure how they would sound on the Rockinbetter. dont think the strings that came with the bass are that great.
if you can tell me what ones you use i'll order a set!

I use Rotosound 66 Swing Bass on mine, size 45-105. Give 'Soundmeout' a call on these, they gave me a very good price on them.

I presume your fretless is long scale and has flatwounds on them? Why not try them on your RG4003 before you buy your new strings?

 

[bill reed]

I use Rotosound 66 Swing Bass on mine, size 45-105. Give 'Soundmeout' a call on these, they gave me a very good price on them.

I presume your fretless is long scale and has flatwounds on them? Why not try them on your RG4003 before you buy your new strings?

the fretless is 35" long. i think the 88s would sound a bit to woody on the 4003. also i like the bright sound of the roundwound on the 4003 so will give the 66s a try. i tend to use stringbusters but will give soundmeout a try
thanks again

 

[Baker69]

the fretless is 35" long. i think the 88s would sound a bit to woody on the 4003. also i like the bright sound of the roundwound on the 4003 so will give the 66s a try. i tend to use stringbusters but will give soundmeout a try
thanks again

Roto 66's have been used by all the big name artists on Rics throughout the years, they do sound really good on the Rockinbetter as well.

They do tend to last a long time as well, I play quite regularly and have had the same strings on for some time now and are still quite bright. Roto's are quite a hard string though and are not very kind to the frets on some basses. They haven't had any effect on my RG4001 though so they must have quite hard frets.