WHUFC BASS

Oooh someone is gonna get a bargain here. A mate has one in dark red from 83 (I think) and it's probably the best Precision basses I've ever played. Needless to say he'll never part with it.

GLWTS

18 hours ago, diskwave said:

Wonder if he's still going. Those gardens look awfully close together. Was it a success?....Noise issues? Curious.

Still going strong mate. No noise issues whatsoever. Still trying to get a drum kit in there but have resigned myself to the fact an electronic drum kit is the only viable option. 

I don't get the urge to make amps look pristine but make guitars look relic'd. I love the look of a relic"d amp. Amps have a far harder life than guitars on the road. This one looks superb. I'd leave as is.

GLWTS

If anybody is interested in a white one of these with a maple neck then I'd be interested in this bass here. A 3-way swap/sale if that works for anyone ? 

2 hours ago, neepheid said:

I'm finding this hard to wrap my head around.  Even the import Dingwalls are far from cheap - why is there even an issue?  Basses in this price range frankly should be so good from the factory that there shouldn't be a need for aftermarket anything as far as I'm concerned.

 

Help me out here, I just don't get it!

Agreed but it's not just Dingwall who've done this. Spector's fanfret Dimension bass, which is a similar price has similar individual bridge mounts which although not as extreme as the Dingwall offering, aren't as high quality as the Payson or even their own standard bridges.

I did look at the Bass Direct Payson bridges and I must admit that it is tempting.

Has anybody done a Payson bridge conversion on a Chinese Dingwall bass? These bridges are standard fitment on the Canadian build basses but on the Chinese basses the individual saddles tend to be sharp and obtrusive for some playing styles.

Is it a straight swap? Is there any drilling required at all and was it worth the money? (they ain't cheap!)

2 hours ago, Pow_22 said:

So ive had a Ric itch for quite a while now and been looking at this particular one for some time:-

 

https://richtonemusic.co.uk/rickenbacker-4001-1978-autumn-glo-hard-case-2nd-hand/

 

It seems to have sold once and been returned a few months back (ive watched it for a while).  Obviously i have concerns it has been returned although it may just have not suited the buyer.  From what i can see there is a reasonable tail lift that i would absolutely want more pictures of before travelling to Sheffield to see it fully.  Love the colour and the 'mojo' but is there anything else obvious from the photos that i should ask for more in depth pics of before travelling to actually try the bass.  This will be (potentially) my first ric being mainly a J and P player so me knowledge here is very limited.  Cheers in advance..

 

 

The tailift is a biggie if you want it kept all original. Any heavy gauge strings will make that worse. Other things to check are the frets, they were notoriously soft and roundwound strings would just eat them up. Also, check the fretboard and binding near the body. Occasionally this would separate or the truss rod would poke through on the older 4001s. The 4003 had a much more substantial neck to address this issue. Then you have the dreaded double truss rod which can be a real pain for those not experienced in using them. Special wrenches are needed for them too due to the lack of space in the headstock. There's also that unbelievable crap bridge system which belongs in the stone age imo. The strings need to be loosened to intonate them and it's trial and error for the best part. The strap pins are another thing. Rickenbacker in their wisdom decided to use pins with a thread designed for metal and not wood. The result is that they would occasionally come loose and would need to have all manner of bodges to fix them, although the previous owner appears to have replaced them with straplock pins on this one.

I get that it's a lovely colour but imo the latest Rics are a whole lot better. All these issues that plagued the early 4001s have now been addressed with a much better bridge, more tonal options and better hardware all round. I love mine and it cost less than the one you have your eye on too.

From someone who never liked Rics and who is now the proud owner of one, I can honestly say that the later models like these really are the best versions of the 4003. No more dodgey bridge, no more stupid dual truss rods, decent straplocks and more tonal options. This is an absolute bargain.

GLWTS

On 30/12/2024 at 10:40, three said:

many guitarists love these and prefer them to the dedicated guitar version

I was going to make this point too. I used to have an old Park valve head which was designed for bass but was bought off me by a guitarist who reckoned it was the beat amp he'd ever played though. I assume this is why the original Fender Bassman amps are so popular with guitarists too.

GLWTS

All this talk of Peavey's and me wanting an early TL5 has prompted me to pull the trigger on this one:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/286396469030

I've already got one ( from @lonestar on here) in natural and I love them, however I've always wanted to try the Super Ferrite early versions and saw this one for sale. Price is pretty reasonable compared to some of the ones available on Reverb which are £1000 plus import duties which didn't really appeal to me.

6 minutes ago, Dood said:

 

cont.. 

 

Or if Synergy make a GH100L preamp module like the 6505 for their new Syn-20IR valve head... then maybe I'd settle for that instead - have you heard those? Insane! 

 

/back on topic.. 

I've not heard of the Synergy amp but they look pretty similar to the Randall RM 100 MTS which allowed the use of three modules in a single amp. It's a novel idea and I'm surprised there hasn't been a bass equivelant made by someone.

19 hours ago, kodiakblair said:

They said that 2 or 3 NAMM back but these won't be US builds, those days are over since they've no factory, staff or materials. New Cirrus are coming out of the NBE. Corp place in the Czech republic. 

I can't see them taking off to be honest. Not sure people will pay the same money for a Peavey Cirrus from the Czech Republic for what I'd estimate would be the same price as a Spector Euro.

Peavey amplification for me back in the 80s and 90s always seemed to weigh about a ton, be rock solid and be ultra reliable. I had a TKO 75 which I ran a 76 Jazz bass through and it sounded immense. I sold the pair for £250 in 1991 to fund a Trace Elliot stack. 

Yes, I've been kicking myself ever since.

I still use Peavey guitar amps though, I have a 5150 block letter 2x12 combo as well as a JSX 120w head and a 6505 II héad. For me, Peavey amps were the dominant force in the 90s when it came to hi gain metal. Bands like Van Halen, Machine Head, In Flames, Arch Enemy, Black Stone Cherries, Opeth, Alice In Chains, Carcass, Skid Row, Killswitch Engage, Soulfly, Corrosion of Conformity and countless other hardcore and metalcore bands used their amps. They really did knock Marshall off their perch in the world of metal around this time.

9 hours ago, kodiakblair said:

Afraid I can't help if it's a 1st gen model, mine now lives in Hungary.

 

Still have a 2nd gen 🙂

 

Some great looking basses there, I love the TL5 in black, looks sublime.

Got a few Peavys, two Foundations and a TL5 in natural. Still looking for a black TL5 with gold hardware... Ahem @kodiakblair😂

Got a 2024 Fireglo recently, really liking it, sounds great recorded

PMd (twice actually with extra info on the second PM)

John made up a Rickenbacker 4001 loom for me and it was just perfect.

Thanks John.

19 hours ago, cetera said:

Ticket price will be ridiculous I'm sure......

Tempted, but I was never a huge fan of Sabbath or any of the other acts advertised.

£455... Sorry, that's a great band, my favourite in fact, a great lineup too but I just can't justify that price.

I knew it wouldn't last long, for this price and in great condition too, someone's gonna be pleased.

Well that's a bargain if ever I saw one. They usually go for more and are usually Japan based so extra shipping and customs on top too.

GLWTS

On 14/01/2025 at 10:46, Bassassin said:

A word of warning about the bolt-neck on these. On mine, and on at least one other version (a 'Northern' branded Kasuga for the Canadian market, with maple-leaf inlays!) the neck tenon's glued into the pocket as well as screwed. If necessary it may be possible to remove it but will take a lot of care.

 

This is further complicated by the detail that the Maxon neck pickup is an accurate copy of the toasters used in 60s/70s Ricks, in that it's actually a guitar pickup with 6 poles. In order to mitigate weakening the neck joint, the tenon is drilled for each individual pole, making it potentially fragile if you're attempting to dismantle it.

 

 

This is that Northern Kasuga - look at the little maple leaves!

 

Anyhoo, mine has actually had a repair at the neck joint at some point, either the result of a 'normal' accident or a bodged neck-removal attempt. Fortunately it's rock-solid and the bass is ridiculously playable, action as low as you want without fret buzz.

 

Mine's pretty convincing-sounding - I've never had a 'real' one to compare it to but it's not hard to coax a late '70s Geddy Lee growl out of it. Worth mentioning that the circuitry's accurate to the original 70s basses, and they have the .0047 treble cap fitted. I bypassed mine which gave it a bit more depth & guts.

 

Interesting,mine is as follows

1 hour ago, prowla said:

Which jack socket are you plugging into?

Yep, that was me being a nobjob, I was in the stereo jack but in my defence, the toggle switch appears to have a loose connection as well which makes the sound intermittent. I've also discovered that the springs and screws from the bridge saddles are missing which I found out when I removed the strings and the saddles fell out.

It's a shame as the sound is really nice and I'm really liking the thick baseball bat neck.

Well mine arrived today and I'm slightly disappointed with it. There's a number if faults that weren't in the description. Notably

1. The bridge is lifting away from the body resulting in high action. Common problem I know but wasn't advertised as such. Possibly a replacement bridge will solve this. (see pics)

2. Rear pickup doesn't work at all. I'm assuming the switch in the up position is rear, but either way it's as dead as disco. *EDIT* it's actually the neck pickup as I've just discovered that Rick's dont follow Gibson pup selector switches of the bridge pickup being the up position of the switch.

3. No strap buttons at all, not a biggie but again, wasn't advertised.

4. There's a crack along the neck, just below the binding, as far as I can tell, it's cosmetic (it's a 50 year old bass after all) but wasn't advertised.

5. There's a number of screws missing from the pick guard, TRC and Jack plate, again, easy fix but wasn't made clear.

6. The machine heads are loose when no strings are attached due to no bushings being present. Not sure if this is normal (assuming not) but I was going to replace the machine heads anyway.

There's other cosmetic issues I'm willing to let go such as the back being sanded from what I can tell but that's not a major one for me as it'll be used mainly in the studio.

I want to keep the bass as I love the chunky neck and weight if the bass so I've asked for £100 refund which I think is very reasonable. I'll keep you posted.