NBD: My first ever Rickenbacker

[Pow_22]

So I've been pretty much a full time P bass/flats player since i started in bands.  Ive had a few flirts with Jazzes and once upon a time a burns bison bass but always come back to the P.  Over the years I've had a few basses I've always loved the look of a few others (i still think a Spector Euro in Gloss Black and gold hardware is one of the best looking basses) and had mixed reactions when finally getting hold of them.  Now, my main 'always wanted' bass is an original Ric 4005 but finances just cant justify even the reissues but i developed a ric itch.  Fast forward to last week and my daily trawl of the usual sites took me to Bass Bros where the had a few ricks in.  I love fireglo but to me the newer ones have a sort of 'washed out' or 'bleached' look.  Then i saw it - a 1998 Ric 4003 with just the right mojo and for what i thought was a reasonable price - i had to have it!  Today, after being ordered late Friday evening she showed up in her rickenbacker hard case and she looks absolutely glorious.  After years of P's ill need time to adjust and ill need to get her off to the fixers for a set up with my usual strings when they are in stock but here's a few teaser pics in the meantime.

Edited Tuesday at 13:32 by Pow_22

[police squad]

nice score

they sound great with flats

[LeftyJ]

Awesome! I love the yellowing on the bindings and fingerboard inlays. The toaster in the neck position is a great addition too (I think the high gain pickups were stock?). 

[Alba]

Very nice, looks great and bet it sounds better. Toaster must be a later addition.

[Pow_22]

Not sure if the toaster is original or not?  Serial dates from 1998?

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Nice! I got a 4003, my first ric several months ago. EB Cobalt flats sound absolutely massive it.

[itu]

Does this have that cap bypass switch in some pot? 

[Pow_22]

4 minutes ago, itu said:

Does this have that cap bypass switch in some pot? 

No, no push pull pot on this one

[itu]

If there's that cap, I stronly suggest you to replace one with a bypass switch pot. Bridge pu is unnecessary thin if the cap is there as always ON. 

[BlueMoon]

2 hours ago, Pow_22 said:

my daily trawl of the usual sites

 

2 hours ago, Pow_22 said:

i had to have it!

Love it…….a true series of Basschat traits going on here!

 

I love a nice Ricky! Well done.

 

[prowla]

Rics are the best basses money can buy.

[prowla]

1 hour ago, itu said:

If there's that cap, I stronly suggest you to replace one with a bypass switch pot. Bridge pu is unnecessary thin if the cap is there as always ON. 

Well, yes and no...

If you run Rick-O-Sound then you can control each pickup separately.

If you want to play anything Chris Squire, pull the Treble pickup tone and then go "Oh!".

 

The bypass pot is an easy fit which does unlock some variations.

[Pow_22]

Thanks all.  Still tinkering until i get get it to my tech.  Currently im easily getting the nasally snarl but struggling to get much low end.  Ill need to have a play with pup heights etc but feels lovely to play.  Maybe the lack of lows is coming from being a habitual P bass/flats player

[Skybone]

It's usually advisable to roll off some of the volume on the neck pickup to about 3/4, with the bridge on full volume.

 

Yes, the 1998 is pre-standard fitment of the "Vintage Circuit" push/pull, though a few people did modify their basses with the circuit. Your new toy should sound full bodied and lovely.

 

Enjoy, it's a lovely looking machine.

[AlexDelores]

Very pretty that! Congrats 🙌 

[kwmlondon]

I have such a love for these basses. So many of my heroes have rocked (ricked?) one. I worry that one day I’ll see one of those mad 5 strings they did recently and I tell you I WILL buy it…

[Jonesy]

Really cool bass, enjoy it! I love the clank with rounds, but I've recently (4 years ago, so recently in terms of the life span of flats!) put TI Jazz Flats on my Ric and love them.

[Pow_22]

So first rehearsal tonight with the ric and to be honest i was a bit underwhelmed. I ditched my pedals years ago and go straight into an Ashdown Spyder head into a Barefaced 1x15. The P gets a lovely plumby bottom with a slight breakup, the mids are throaty and growly and the top is open but beefy. The ric was thin, hollow sounding and got lost easily in the mix. Now granted it does need a set up so ill hold judgement but a quick play with pickup heights didnt really help, the neck pup is maxed height wise and i just wasnt getting enough beef. Ill try again after the set up but im wondering if ill maybe need a pre amp pedal for the ric to get a similar beef that the p gives? Im also aware that ric v p is apples v oranges. I just expected a bit more body and timbre

[police squad]

they are totally different beasts.

I'm a P bass man but have a 4003 for the Jam tribute I'm in. It won't sound like a P bass in many respects.

As someone has said, both pickups on but roll the neck pickup back to about 3/4. That will give you the sound

But flats will change it again. I saw a Kinks tribute and he had flats on and it sounded amazing

[prowla]

8 hours ago, Pow_22 said:

So first rehearsal tonight with the ric and to be honest i was a bit underwhelmed. I ditched my pedals years ago and go straight into an Ashdown Spyder head into a Barefaced 1x15. The P gets a lovely plumby bottom with a slight breakup, the mids are throaty and growly and the top is open but beefy. The ric was thin, hollow sounding and got lost easily in the mix. Now granted it does need a set up so ill hold judgement but a quick play with pickup heights didnt really help, the neck pup is maxed height wise and i just wasnt getting enough beef. Ill try again after the set up but im wondering if ill maybe need a pre amp pedal for the ric to get a similar beef that the p gives? Im also aware that ric v p is apples v oranges. I just expected a bit more body and timbre

A Precision will tend to be louder than a Ric, but the Ric is more subtle and you have to work a bit to get the character.

You might need to up the Gain a bit for the Ric.

When in mono mode, winding back one of the Vols a smidge can make it louder.

To get the absolute best you can use the Rick-O-Sound (stereo) output to run it to two amps and then set the controls to suit.

A Precision does what it does very well; if you're stuck playing roots & fifths below the bottom 5 frets then you're as well sticking with the Precision.

The Ric realisation comes when you do more adventurous stuff and notice how the sound gets thicker as you go up the neck and more growly as you play lower down.

They really are a very expressive instrument.

Perhaps it's better to think of it as starting afresh rather than a variant of a Precision.

[Pow_22]

Thanks all for the advices.  Im toying with the idea of a programmable sansamp so i can have one setting for the p bass and another for the ric with a higher gain and tad more bass.  The ric is off to the setter upperers tomorrow for a set of Elites Groundwounds on (hoping the high tension doesn't affect the small amount of tail lift but that's another story). Early days yet but ill persevere 

[Beedster]

On 30/09/2025 at 18:39, kwmlondon said:

ricked?

 

That's going into my vocab book 

[prowla]

2 minutes ago, Pow_22 said:

Thanks all for the advices.  Im toying with the idea of a programmable sansamp so i can have one setting for the p bass and another for the ric with a higher gain and tad more bass.  The ric is off to the setter upperers tomorrow for a set of Elites Groundwounds on (hoping the high tension doesn't affect the small amount of tail lift but that's another story). Early days yet but ill persevere 

On that front, I have an EBS Microbass 3; it is an absolutely excellent piece of kit.

Its only downfall is the "distortion" channel; if it had two identical ones it would be perfect (they do a Stanley Clarke acoustic bass version, but it doesn't have the tuner).

Apparently the Microbass is the pre- section of their Reidmar amps, so I have one of those to try.

The last jam I did I took along a Trace Elliot amp and played it through a large cab; it sounded rather good with just the pre-shape button pressed.

[prowla]

6 minutes ago, Pow_22 said:

Thanks all for the advices.  Im toying with the idea of a programmable sansamp so i can have one setting for the p bass and another for the ric with a higher gain and tad more bass.  The ric is off to the setter upperers tomorrow for a set of Elites Groundwounds on (hoping the high tension doesn't affect the small amount of tail lift but that's another story). Early days yet but ill persevere 

I use Rotosound 40-60-80-100 roundwounds on my Rics.

[prowla]

38 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

That's going into my vocab book 

I'm a Rickaholic!