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I’ve gone small , modern , modular for gigs. But recently added a nice little boutique preamp to get that old school warm tubey thump. So now I can go old school or hifi. I have mini rigs for quiet home practice , and rehearsal rigs. Headphone rig too. And backups … Why settle for one amp when there’s so many alternatives out there?

Rather than one rig for everything I think everybody needs six or seven amps. It’s fun to explore the differences. They are not all the same.

I’ve never subscribed to Scott’s bass lessons , but I do appreciate what he’s trying to teach and the way he breaks it down. And he stresses , this is the chord , and these are the notes to play over it , and around it. And I gotta say he’s built up a pretty good business. I celebrate that. He’s responsible for a lot of players learning what to play. And it seems the more you play , the more there is to learn.

Kijiji is our most popular local online Buy&Sell , and I tend to watch it like a hawk. I’ve snagged some serious deals , and missed a couple too. Last week this popped up , and was up for a day before it sold.(I thought it would be gone in twenty minutes) A friend picked it up and he’ll give it a good home. Somebody had bought a later 70’s 4001 carcass and fitted it out. The paint job is about 30 years old. But it sold for $1000 Cdn! That’s a real Ric toaster. I haven’t seen one go that cheaply for some years.

That mapleglo 4003s is a beauty! (and I would love to put a cover on my 4001) I immediately got used to the cover on my 4000.

neepheid’s previous post nailed it.

I believe the low end thunder is when the choke is off. The choke puts various resistors in that cut back specific frequencies.

The original Ric bass was a 4000 , the 4001 came later. Mine is a set neck mid 70’s version, it has not got binding so the edges are rounded , and has simple dot inlays on the fingerboard. There is no .0047 cap on the bridge pickup , and having just one pickup there’s no need for a toggle switch , just a simple tone and volume. To be honest I prefer just having two knobs. It’s simply a mono output without the stereo option. I thought I’d miss the extra pickup and knobs but actually did not at all. They did not make that many 4000 models after the 4001 was introduced , and many were converted to a two pickup layout. Curiously today , I’ve seen some people change 4003 basses to a 4000 style with a simple two knob harness and single pickup. There are some diehard 4000 players that swear it was the best thing Rickenbacker made.

After looking for some years I completely fell for it after I finally bought one. And the more I played it the more comfortable I became with it. It eventually felt like home. I paid close to a market price for it at the time , but it was (and still is) in beautiful condition. There is something unique about the sound , and they are built differently from other basses. I had been a Pbass player. I had to learn how to properly adjust the old style truss rods , and I bypassed the .0047 cap on the bridge pickup to get the full output , I strung it with TI flatwound strings for that thump , and dealt with the weird bridge and the bizarre output construction. I became comfortable with the thin neck that had so little taper , the binding was never an issue for me. And I gigged it for years. I still get a little weak in the knees when I look at one. And after becoming familiar with their construction and quirks helped quite a few people set them to their preferences. So I’ve set up a good number of them over the years. Later I managed to get a set neck 4000 as well , which is a very , very different Ric. Today I usually play short scale basses , but I will always love and appreciate a nice Ric. I’m quite aware that many hate them , the Stingray is almost as divisive. … have one of those too.

Always loved a nice Ric despite their quirks. Spent many years looking before I found my first 4001 , but that was back in the dark days before the internet. There were simply none for sale around Nova Scotia.

The Newport has been getting a lot of positive reviews , and it’s at an attractive price point.

I’ve had an old 4001 for ages but I’ve never run stereo with it. I’ve got the amps and cabs , I’d just have to pick up a stereo jack and a splitter.

Welcome ! I’m just over in Halifax .

Practice rig for tomorrow and gig Sunday.

One nice thing about the V4B is that they tend to get pushed all the way because they’re only a hundred watts. They do get fairly loud.

Trussart have been doing hollow body metal guitars for ages. Works of art. https://jamestrussart.com

I have an older GenzBenz Steamliner that has a three tube pre. It certainly warms and thickens the Class D back end. I sent it off to California when I heard agedhorse was still doing service work on them so it’s like a brand new amp today. Sometimes you see Streamliners go for very reasonable money.

I recently picked up a good tube preamp , it works.

Watch the video and decide. It sounded like a guitar to me.

I enjoy using more than just one amp too.

I enjoy using different basses rather than thinking one will do everything.

John Hall has been retired for several years and is living in England.

A friend just picked this up for $1000 Cdn on kijiji the other day , it’s a “slightly” modified late 4001.

I found one on kijiji for a good price a couple of years ago, unfortunately a friend got to it before I did. Several weeks later he flipped to me to fund something else he was gassing for. Great basses!

John Hall has been retired for some years now. I picked up a nice used 4001 about twenty five years ago for a good price , I bypassed the .0047 cap and put on flatwounds. A Ric can do a very nice old school thump , they’re very versatile basses if you give them a chance. It quickly became my main bass and remained so for some years. It’s been retired and these days I mostly pick up shortscales , but when I pick up that old Ric it feels like home. I’ve been reading how people bash Rics for ages now and sometimes think the most vocal Ric haters have never actually spent any time playing them. I’m quite familiar with their quirks. And I love a nice Ric. Some say the current basses are among the best they’ve ever made. I have played a number of Fakinbackers over the years and they have not remotely resembled the real thing.