Jean-Luc Pickguard

My first bass in 1979 was a Yamato Jazz bass copy from Soho Soundhouse in Soho Square. It was my xmas present that year and cost my Dad £75 which in today's money is equivalent to £475.

Here's my instrumental cover of 'The beat goes on' with rick-o-sound bass from my 4003 recorded direct into logic using both channels of my focusrite scarlett 2i2. The bass pickup is going into a virtual B15 and the treble pickup going into a virtual plexi with virtual distortion, vintage drive and roto phase pedals. In the intro, the bass has just the bass pickup for two bars, then just the treble pickup for two bars. The guitar is a fender Ben Gibbard mustang. The drums, organ, amps, fx and mastering all use Logic's native features — ie no 3rd party plugins. The Beat Goes On.mp3 When recording this and adding distortion to the recorded tracks, it was apparent how noisy the single coils are, so it will probably be worth my time doing the copper tape faraday cage thing to keep noise and slugs out.

Pizza Hut used to do a good range of plant-based 'beyond' toppings which made it quite a treat for me as I don't eat animals, however the last time I was about to order they were conspicuous by their absence. Perhaps I was the only person ordering them.

I have now received my 3m 6.3mm Stereo Jack to 2 x Mono 6.3mm Jacks Audio cable from amazon (it was seven quid with next day prime delivery). It isn't really suitable for plugging into two amps, but it is perfect for plugging the bass directly into my Focusrite scarlett 2i2 interface for recording. Going into the interface with stereo direct monitoring I can hear each pickup going to its own side & confirm it is working using the pickup switch. I'm going to have some fun with this in logic.

Surely it would make more sense to bring Wheaton's law onto the statute books, then it shouldn't be a problem for the forums.

In no particular order and probably with some major omissions: Iain 'Thump' Thompson (I first noticed the bass as an isolated instrument on the intros of a couple of Darts records) Willie Dixon John Paul Jones Carol Kaye David J Duck Dunn Bob Babbitt James Jamerson Nile Rogers Billy Gibbons Philip 'Snakefinger' Lithman Malcolm & Angus Young

I'll report back once I have received the Split Meld and the TRS cable, but I believe the centre socket in the Split Meld takes the TRS cable from the bass and each of the other two take a standard guitar cable into an amp (or mixer/interface) TRS = Tip-Ring-Sleeve referring to the three contact segments of a stereo jack TS = Tip-Sleeve referring to the two contact segments of a standard guitar cable's jack.

I love these, I always buy them for any bass/guitar I acquire that doesn't already have a decent socket such as a switchcraft as the flimsy ones in squiers and other less expensive guitars are prone to fail at some point. They don't make a version with a switch however, and the issue I had on Ric the wasn't due to any shortcomings in the socket itself, but the channel routed out for it not being wide enough for it to work properly.

As I get older my ability to tolerate people behaving like tw@ts diminishes exponentially. I wouldn't want to be in a band with drama queens.

Avon Must Be Missing An Angel — Tavares

Did I mention that the 4003 sounds amazing with 40-95 Ernie Ball cobalt flats? Much better than the rounds that were originally on it.

No typo. I’ve ordered the Old Blood Noise Endeavors Split Meld HK and a TRS Audio Cable The split meld is £22 and has three jack sockets: one TRS and two TS wired, to split a stereo TRS signal path into dual-mono TS signal paths.

I gave it one last try before turning in for bed... What has two thumbs and now has both outputs on a 4003 working as they should?

I've been testing the rick-o-sound output using prowla's handy tip. Reading this post back I realise is sounds like incoherent rambling, but its written as a brainbump to help me remember what I've tried and what works wnen. Unfortunately the treble pickup (ie with mono jack all the way in) gives no output, but the bass pickup (halfway in) works. The issue is to do with the switching doo-dah on the mono jack for the standard output. When that jack is pulled out of the bass everything works perfectly. It appears that the switching doo-dah is supposed to be closed when the jack is inserted into the standard output and open when no jack is inserted, however there is so little room in the channel where the socket sits, the switch gets pushed closed permanently due to pressure against the wood when everything is seated and screwed up tight. When the treble pickup was cutting out in standard mode, the switch was oriented towards the back straplock presumably due to the jack momentarily not applying enough pressure to keep the switch closed. With the switching doo-dah oriented towards the rick-o-sound output, everything works in standard mode but there's no treble pickup signal in rick-o-sound mode. This is the cause of the trouble - The socket is pretty much identical to a standard switchcraft mono socket, but with the addition of a switch which closes when the plug is inserted. Note the nylon standoff at the tip of the inside part of the switch. This ensures the switch does not make electrical contact with any part of the plug — it is part of a separate circuit with its own terminals. In an ideal world the switch will be closed in standard mode and open in rick-o-sound mode. The problem is that with everything is screwed up tight, the outside part of the switch is tight against the wood and makes contact with the inside part closing the switch. This is not a problem in standard mode as we want the switch to be closed, but it effs up rick-o-sound mode as having the switch closed prevents the treble pickup from being output. Tomorrow's another day. I will experiment with other angles of rotation of the 'standard output' socket in the hope that there is a sweet-spot where everything magically works. Otherwise the last resort might be to take a file to the channel to give the socket some extra room. But I really don't want to do that.

I was going to build my own rick-o-sound box like the one in your pic, but the old blood noise endeavors split meld HK in my Thomann order will do the same job. It is only £22 and lot neater (and considerably less hassle) than anything I could build. That's good to know — Thanks!

After reading the link I posted above I pulled the mono socket out which required removing it from the plate, then rotated it through 180º and reassembled it. The mono output is now working as it should with no cutting out — even with my superheavy tweed covered Fender curly cable. There's a remote possibility that the rick-o-sound output might have an issue due to the switch on the the mono socket, so I need to test this. My Thomann order looks like it'll take a while to arrive, so I have ordered this cable from amazon (for delivery tomorrow) which should allow me to record the bass on two channels (i.e. each pickup on its own channel) into logic through my focusrite scarlett 2i2.

Saturday Night Is Dead — Graham Parker

Eight Miles High — The Byrds

Tiptoe Through The Tulips — Tiny Tim

Hole In My Shoe — Traffic

My Schroeder 1212L is small and light but I used to use it for gigs that got pretty loud with no problem getting heard.

I found some info which seems relevant to the issue I had with the bridge pickup cutting out when I used my super-heavy braided curly cable in the mono output. https://www.talkbass.com/threads/rickenbacker-4003-treble-pickup-cutting-out.1176288/ Looks like its a fairly commom issue with a simple fix. I just need to unscrew and pull out the socket so I can clean and bend the switching bit.

I hope they refunded something as you had to deal with your own erection.

I quite like the pickup cover as I tend to play forward of the treble pickup, but if I change my mind I'd probably look into getting a rickysounds bezel