Cosmo Valdemar

[quote name='dc2009' post='1274198' date='Jun 18 2011, 10:19 PM']You dismantled it? o.O I just checked, and my A string is perfectly even with both pickups soloed and when mixed, sound like you just had a bit of a duff magnet, which is a shame. Mine sounds pretty nice, though the J pup is a bit weak as I said before. And thanks for the kind words merello, I do love the look of it too.[/quote] The close string spacing was always a bit much for me, I had the idea of turning it into a 'Fenderbird' with an old Encore P-style neck I had knocking around. Turns out the necks were the same width, so Epiphone clearly just squeezed an extra string onto a standard sized neck. Never got round to completeing it and sold the parts on Ebay, doubtless to another Fenderbird enthusiast. Sounds like I must have had a duff pickup then!

The only 'metal' bands that would give a toss about the appearance of the bass would be the trendy-arse, whiney emo metal - and that's only jumped up production line pop music anyway. Any metal band worth their salt wouldn't give a monkey's. This whole thing about all metal bassists playing black basses (or worse, blood-splattered) is a cliche at best. Examples - Opeth's bass player used Fender Marcus Miller basses for years, now plays Sandberg. The guy from Fear Factory played modified Roscoe Beck basses. And this: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSCduKrF5Zc&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSCduKrF5Zc...feature=related[/url]

Veeeeeery nice... Very Fear Factory If the recent quality of Squiers is anything to go by it should be a killer.

[quote name='dc2009' post='1272954' date='Jun 17 2011, 05:01 PM']Here are some pics I've just taken, apologies for the pisspoor light.[/quote] That takes me back. Wish I had never dismantled it now! Can you check to see if the A string is particularly quiet with the J pickup solo'd? Mine was, I would be interested to know if mine was iffy or if it was an inherent design flaw.

The most impressive thing by far is that your mum is a stand up comedian.

Another shout for the Line 6 Lowdown110. I have one and it is wonderful. Wouldn't fancy it's chances against a drummer but for bedroom practice and recording it's fantastic.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1268713' date='Jun 14 2011, 03:05 PM']Not really going to help the OP though is it?[/quote] If I had paid for a brand new bass of that calibre and it had some wiring errors ilke the OPs had I would definitely post on the manufacturer's forum, to see if anyone else had the issue and also to see if it was something of a common problem. Of course I would also contact the shop I bought it from.

I like them. Fender trying something a little different. I reckon the P/P Jazz would be a monster, always liked that pickup combination.

I still don't understand how a high action helps the string vibrate better... Surely the string isn't aware of how far away it is from the neck? If it's vibrating freely between the bridge and nut it should be the same regardless of action.

[quote name='dave.c' post='1265839' date='Jun 12 2011, 11:09 AM']I have to say these new ones are great, I've not changed the setup from the factory and it plays brilliantly, pickups are strong and give THE sound (I have in my head anyway) and the neck is one of the best 4001/4003 necks I have tried, actually, probably the best! The whole bass feels really solid, I think maybe they are doing something different with the neck now as it has a 'stiffness' that I have found a bit lacking in some older Rickenbackers.[/quote] My experience exactly. Chris, you are always more than welcome to try my new 4003 if you are ever in my neck of the woods.

I had one of those for a while, Loved the sound of the P pickup on it's own, a great, grinding tone. Sadly, mine had a 4-string J pickup, so the A string missed the poles and was very quiet. As ever with 5 strings, it just wasn't for me and I sold it in the end. That early line of Epi Thunderbirds were excellent basses.

[quote name='Clarky' post='1266527' date='Jun 12 2011, 07:59 PM']Given the rather disappointing turn taken by the 'Bands wanted - London and Surrey' thread, I am hoping that we can arrange a BassChat triple header of Rattlin Bone, The Jetsonics and Dick Venom in an alternative venue. Can anyone recommend a decent central London venue that can be hired and has decent PA, sound engineer etc? I know the Purple Turtle in Camden used to be available for hire and I will be contacting them, but are there any others you know of? Cheers Clarky[/quote] When my old band used to host all dayers we always went for the Turtle. Cheaper on Sundays too.

[quote name='4000' post='1265189' date='Jun 11 2011, 06:23 PM']He said it was, and I quote, "that horrible salmon pink colour"; he also added the T Bird pickup (and wired it wrong according to Peter Cook, who did some work on it and said that's why it sounded as it did. Apparently the output was actually really low!) He did indeed take all the paint off and played it like that for several years. The bass in question, the Ric he used in Hawkwind and at the start of Motorhead -it's most famously on the Ace of Spades video - can be seen here at approx 2:50. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9wnd69WKgw"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9wnd69WKgw[/url] Lem only had 2 T/Bird pickups; he said he bought a pair of them in the West End. After that he got "a bloke" (I suspect Peter Cook as they look similar to the pickups on his old basses and as I stated earlier Peter had worked on Lem's bass) to make some copy T/Bird pickups, but Lem said "they weren't very good, not like the real thing". From there he went to Barts, and from there to Ric humbuckers.[/quote] Didn't Lemmy only replace the neck pickups? If he did, I always thought it to be a bit daft as he says in interviews he only used the bridge pickup.

For what it's worth, I thought they looked great.

Lovely.

Lovely.

[quote name='lemmywinks' post='1264128' date='Jun 10 2011, 04:50 PM']See above! The RD Artist i had could absolutely nail that sound, better than most Rics i've heard[/quote] We'll agree to differ.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All I know is that Snakes and Ladders was mainly recorded with a Wishbass. Seriously, the only Rush record where there could be any confusion over which basses were used is Moving Pictures, as the bass tracks had all manner of distortion and effects added after recording.

I always meant to have a 'Rickenfecker' truss rod cover made for my CMI Rick copy... Never got round to it though. As for the bass in the OP, I would leave it blank, for mystery and intrigue. If you put a Musicman logo on it the only people who would notice it would most likely be the only ones who would recognise it as not being authentic. Any chance of seeing some more pics of the bass? I'm intrigued now, a passive Stingray...

[quote name='Beedster' post='1261733' date='Jun 8 2011, 08:10 PM']However, I never really used the VTC when I first had it, and blending the bridge PUP with VTC with the neck PUP provides some lovely tonal options, many of which are highly useable. I'm genuinely surprised as I'd had always seen Rics, like Precisions, as one trick ponies, but that is far from the case. It's also helped loads by playability and almost endless sustain.[/quote] Since I got mine a couple of weeks back I have found my favourite setting to be everything on full with the VTC kicked in. There it is, the classic Rick sound. It sounds particularly wonderful throught the Line6 R&B setting. Apologies for slight thread derail

You can mess around with your EQ all you like, you will never get another bass to sound like a Rick - similar maybe, but they have a genuinely unique element to the growl that is unmistakeable. Lots of people say their Jazz bass can pull off a convincing impression. I don't doubt they can dial in a cutting, clanky pick tone, but it will still sound like a jazz. But this is all academic I suppose. To me the classic Rick growl is one of the holy grails of bass tone - I have immersed myself for years in its sounds, listening to the countless classic records it was played on. I know it when I hear it. But then again on the other hand, there are certain basses that I'm not much of a fan of that are considered to have a unique and unmistakeable tone - I could probably convince myself I could pull off a convincing impersonation on a Wishbass.

[quote name='Beedster' post='1258534' date='Jun 6 2011, 04:18 PM']Yep [/quote] I thought as much.

I'd also contact the manufacturer, they may be far more helpful than you might think. I once found a dead A string in a set of Rotos. I emailed them and got a reply the same day from Jason Howe (the boss I think), apologising profusely and offered to send me a whole new pack free of charge. No return of the defective string needed, no proof of purchase, nothing. I was very impressed.