It's called 'comb filtering'. When both pickups are full volume (in mono), some mid frequencies cancel each other out. If you use the 'vintage' push/ pull switch, this doesn't happen as the bridge pickup bass frequencies are cut slightly. The frequencies don't overlap - no comb filtering. Turning down the neck pickup will move those frequencies 'out of the way'. You get a perceived volume boost as there is no comb filtering. If you use Rick-o-sound (stereo) this doesn't happen as each pickup is independant of each other, so frequencies aren't cancelled.
I've been playing Ricks for a long time, and I have to say the idea of using a mixer to run the RickOSound back into one amp is pure gold. I wish I'd known to do this years ago instead of just running mono. Many thanks!
If Rickebacker pickups weren't so expensive, I'd suggest flipping the magnets in one of them over and swapping the hot/ground wire so you'd get hum cancelling in the middle position. Loving your channel - keep up the great work!
Thank you. Before I shielded my 4003 I could barely hear the buzz, but after following your video, the buzz is much louder now. I don't know what I would have done without this video.
You've obviously got a short there, if any of the shielding comes in contact with the hot side of the circuit then it becomes a big antenna. The idea is that you collect the interference and sent it to ground, but you're sending it to your amp.
Good video - I use my Ric-o-sound with a Y cable. My bridge goes through the effects loop (ends in an empress compressor so I can roll up or down on the output as needed) and my neck goes through the clean channel (this channel also has its own EQ and boost). In my practice rig I'm just putting the bridge on the old Line6 spider guitar amp and the neck into my TC Electronic 210. Again, it's about taming the monster. I do like how you're using the splitter pedal instead of a Y cable. On my pedal rig I use an Xotic X-Blender which allows me to balance the wet and dry loops to my liking - a simple pedal that basically does what your tabletop multi channel board is doing. On my mono basses I just push everything through the X-blender, but when I plug in the Ric I put the input direct into the effects loop. I have a new multi effects pedal inbound that has a stereo in, and I'll have more control of those channels with that pedal. I liked seeing (and agree) with your assessment of the faraday cage using the multimeter test. I did a similar mod with the copper tape on my J bass. It wasn't enough with the buzz on the MiM J bass, and I ended up installing a pair of linear hum cancelling S-D Apollo pickups - now it's dead quiet. I didn't see, but did you wire your ground to your shielding tape? I'm very much enjoying your spirited channel - keep it going!
I do have an '89 Peavey Foundation, it's a really good bass. It's got the neck adjustment screw that someone has overtightened and there's a hairline crack running up the center of the fingerboard, I've been wanting to do a repair video about that for a while but tbh I'm not 100% decided on how I'm going to approach it, I fear it may involve removing the frets and needing to refinish the whole neck... And as it stands it's still playing perfectly, the setup is killer and it's a meaty sounding bass, I really rate it. We'll see what happens next year, hopefully I'll have a little more free time to work on stuff like that. Thanks
amazing! You could achieve the same result (or similar) using two tiny buffers within your bass. They would prevent each signal from interacting with each other. All that could fit within the cavity and save you all the hassle with with cables, mixers and split boxes.
Indeed, there was a short part where I likened the effect to a dual active bass with external electronics, but I garbled my delivery and edited it out. I have other reasons for using the mixer anyway, I also play keys with the band, and on some songs our singer is playing his own bass, other songs I'm playing bass on a separate keyboard, plus two channels coming from the Rick, all going into a bass amp with only one input, the mixer is an essential part of my rig. And it gives me the option of patching in effects if I ever feel the need.
Great vid, as always! FWIW, my preference is for longer vids -- they're more like a couch you can sink into, as opposed to the chairs that (other peoples'!) shorter videos tend to be.
I would love to have an acrylic replacement for my pickup cover like yours. Or at least something see through. I've bought a chrome one off line and that will do the job once it arrives, but now I'm feeling jealous of how good yours looks with acrylic haha
Im currently using a pbass that ive wired the split coils into their own channels with two outputs. The bass is strung to suit b-d-d-f tuning. One d string being a 95 guage and the other 50. I enjoy it alot. Each line runs through its own effects chain and amp. The b and low d go through some bass effects and amp and the higher d and f strings go through guitar effects and guitar amp. I did this because i wanted to find something to challenge my playing and open up new options. I run the guitar side with an octave up pedal and some dirt to the tone it really does sound crisp against the bass side filling the room . Really twists my brain playing two seperate things sometimes but totally worth it. Im planing to find an EB-0, convert it to a headless bass with this wiring in mind and tweeked pickup placement. Now ive found the concept to be sound with the pbass im enthused. If i get round to it ill film it and remember this channel , perhaps youd be curious to witness the noise. Aweosme videos thanks pal. Found you through your ebo mod video and just binged four hours , great stuff. Im subbed and will follow from the uk.... keep em comin!!!
Aside from phasing, I don't know the exact wiring and control of that bass but it is acting as if the switching puts the 2 together in series. For anyone who doesn't understand electrical wiring, series vs parallel is how the electricity travels in a circuit. If instead of pickups you put 2 bulbs in the circuit, 1 on 1 off, in series one on is super bright, but both on decreases the output. This is because 100% of the available electricity goes through both components increasing resistance and sharing the load 50/50. In parallel both lights glow bright because the electricity can choose which path to take so each bulb gets 100% of what is available to it. Winding back the volume on one pickup is like adding a dimmer switch to the bulbs so we can get 50/50, 40/60 or 75/25 etc.
I have 4001 and find the neck pickup needs to be at about 85% before it’s just too much bottom end. Thanks for for the shielding tips - tempted to see if you would do a bit of a upgrade to mine. you sound like you could be in NZ.
Lights will also cause a bad hum. Are you suggesting Rickenbacker made a mistake in design? Gasp! I have a 2010 4003 that needed quite a few kweaks. Also, I love aluminum tape! Love your vids.
If the PUs are wired in parallel, as is the case with most basses, you get a significant impedance drop (about half the impedance of each individual PU) when operated together. Hence less gain @ the amp's front end...
Some great information and a brilliant idea regarding the stereo capability of a Ric, however, the volume of the video made the bass sound the same each time. I assume in the room you were in the difference was apparent. Thanks for this post.
Yeah, youtube not only compresses the audio but they normalise everything too, if I really wanted to show off the differences then I'd have to artificially exaggerate them in the mix and that's a slippery slope I'd prefer not to go down. Cheers
@@fanbladeinstruments Thanks for the reply. I wasn't sure you were aware of the final mix we get to hear. Beautiful color on that Ric, too. Is that one of the amber tinted ones or is it vintage? My 2004 FireGlo is still kind of gaudy, not a smooth burst like that one.
Other solution is have a pull switch to put the pickups in series. Parallel windings sound restricted. The signals that are different between the two pickups are greatly attenuated when wired in parallel. When you put the pickups in series, the pickups are completely additive. I have been doing this on all my Jazz basses for decades, and there is no going back. I will be doing so on my newly acquired 4003. It is all the difference to my ear, and keeps a Jazz noiseless, rather than noise when one pickup is turned down a bit to get the tone bloom we all like. I was disappointed to learn Ricks do not have reverse would coils and reversed magnets. So dumb. That needs to change. I will test mine to confirm. Thanks for the video!
A "premium instrument" without shielding stock from the factory is just sad. For crying out loud, my Squier PJ has it and it cost like $250! If a small bottle of shielding paint is dirt cheap for me, I can only imagine what it would cost for a manufacturer like Rickenbacker to buy in bulk. It's probably the same stupid excuse we've heard manufacturers use about stainless steel frets; "bUt iT's nOt vInTaGe aCcUrAtE". It doesn't matter, you give people all the small quality-of-life upgrades you can in this price range, only exception being on vintage reissues for obvious reasons
@@ileutur6863 Seriously. I’d like to be proud of “American quality.” But I can’t say I have any evidence of it personally, only the opposite really. I do however, have evidence of Japanese, Korean, German, and Chinese quality at low prices.
Wouldn‘t that loudness loss with two pickups on full volume compensate for the loudness with just one pickup? That would be a nice thing so volumes won‘t change while switching from neck to both to bridge pickup.
Hi, I wanna know how to replace the Rickenbacker 4003's buckle locker,I had to try pick it off down of the bass's locker but it to hard to unscrew it. and which buckle locker you used I have see the original buckle is to rough, which means lot of buckle locks cant install on it.
Great video, well done 👍 However, when all's said and done Rickenbacker's are truly awful instruments! I've owned two - hated the first one - moved it on - missed it - bought another - hated it - moved it on. Still miss them but hate their quirks. That's Rickenbacker's for you.
Question: I’m looking to shield my Rick too. Crazy buzz which I’ve tried to ignore but just can’t anymore haha. My question: which is better, aluminum or copper shielding ? Is there a difference. I’ve always seen copper shielding in examples but yours is the first one with aluminum shielding. Not sure if there’s much of a difference. Cheers mate 👍🏻
I've never noticed much of a difference, in theory copper is a better conductor, but aluminium works too, certainly well enough to shield a few pickups. Be aware of the continuity test I did, the adhesive on your tape might not work so well. Cheers.
@@fanbladeinstruments follow up question: did you solder ground wire at all? I’ve seen a ton of guys use say copper wire for example to ground everything but I’ve also seen guys just put down the copper shielding without soldering any sort of wire.
It's a track I made over a decade ago, I think it's original title was 'Solidification'. There's probably the full version floating about online somewhere complete with terrible singing of cringy lyrics, it was my phase where I was still playing at being the tortured artist before realising it was way more fun to be a mad scientist. I recommmend sticking to the instrumental mix, it's much better.
@@fanbladeinstruments Thanks man. It's a very cool song, don't sell yourself short. I can't find it tho. If you have a link or something I would appreciate it.
@@rafbass you should look a bit close at how he did the shielding. The shielding of the cavities folds just a little over the edge of body. That part makes contact with the shielding layer put at the back of the pickguard when it is screwed in place. The shielding of pickguard is contacted to ground through the outer shells of the pots which are grounded and make contact to the shielding at holes through the pickguard. Makes no difference if you use copper or aluminium, the principle is the same.
@@dixiefallas7799 Not only that, but if you plug a mono jack into the rick-o-sound output while having the mono output also in use, you will effectively shorten both pup's to ground and you will have no sound at all.
It's called Amber Fireglow, it was the 'finish of the year 2006'. The fact that it's a 2008 serial number shows how long their back-order waiting list is. Cheers.
Hey mate love your content..is there any chance of looking at how this is wired up as I have a Tiesco base I am wanting to wire up just like your base here..that would be much appreciated..if you need an email address let me know..fellow Kiwi
I'm part of the cult that refuses to take off the bridge cover. This is like buying a car that shifts its gears automatically. Why would you want that? If you remove the bridge pickup cover and retain the trash bridge you dont know much about guitars and are just folllowing a trend :) (Hipshot bridge, retain bridge cover, thumb rest for neck pickup)
It's called 'comb filtering'.
When both pickups are full volume (in mono), some mid frequencies cancel each other out. If you use the 'vintage' push/ pull switch, this doesn't happen as the bridge pickup bass frequencies are cut slightly. The frequencies don't overlap - no comb filtering. Turning down the neck pickup will move those frequencies 'out of the way'. You get a perceived volume boost as there is no comb filtering.
If you use Rick-o-sound (stereo) this doesn't happen as each pickup is independant of each other, so frequencies aren't cancelled.
I've been playing Ricks for a long time, and I have to say the idea of using a mixer to run the RickOSound back into one amp is pure gold.
I wish I'd known to do this years ago instead of just running mono.
Many thanks!
If Rickebacker pickups weren't so expensive, I'd suggest flipping the magnets in one of them over and swapping the hot/ground wire so you'd get hum cancelling in the middle position. Loving your channel - keep up the great work!
I did it with mine. Best mod ever.
Thank you. Before I shielded my 4003 I could barely hear the buzz, but after following your video, the buzz is much louder now. I don't know what I would have done without this video.
You've obviously got a short there, if any of the shielding comes in contact with the hot side of the circuit then it becomes a big antenna. The idea is that you collect the interference and sent it to ground, but you're sending it to your amp.
What a great instrument! Nice job!!!!
Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative. -Oscar Wilde.
I've stereowired my Epiphone Eb3. Works absolutely brilliant with that big mudbucker on one channel and that little mini humbucker on the other
I have a 1978 4001, I leave the bridge p/u cover on for that reason. I also shielded it with copper tape. Cheers from Utah USA
Good video - I use my Ric-o-sound with a Y cable. My bridge goes through the effects loop (ends in an empress compressor so I can roll up or down on the output as needed) and my neck goes through the clean channel (this channel also has its own EQ and boost). In my practice rig I'm just putting the bridge on the old Line6 spider guitar amp and the neck into my TC Electronic 210. Again, it's about taming the monster. I do like how you're using the splitter pedal instead of a Y cable. On my pedal rig I use an Xotic X-Blender which allows me to balance the wet and dry loops to my liking - a simple pedal that basically does what your tabletop multi channel board is doing. On my mono basses I just push everything through the X-blender, but when I plug in the Ric I put the input direct into the effects loop. I have a new multi effects pedal inbound that has a stereo in, and I'll have more control of those channels with that pedal.
I liked seeing (and agree) with your assessment of the faraday cage using the multimeter test. I did a similar mod with the copper tape on my J bass. It wasn't enough with the buzz on the MiM J bass, and I ended up installing a pair of linear hum cancelling S-D Apollo pickups - now it's dead quiet. I didn't see, but did you wire your ground to your shielding tape?
I'm very much enjoying your spirited channel - keep it going!
You have the most detailed videos. I'd love to see more from Peavey or something like that, too.
I do have an '89 Peavey Foundation, it's a really good bass. It's got the neck adjustment screw that someone has overtightened and there's a hairline crack running up the center of the fingerboard, I've been wanting to do a repair video about that for a while but tbh I'm not 100% decided on how I'm going to approach it, I fear it may involve removing the frets and needing to refinish the whole neck... And as it stands it's still playing perfectly, the setup is killer and it's a meaty sounding bass, I really rate it. We'll see what happens next year, hopefully I'll have a little more free time to work on stuff like that. Thanks
6:05 thank you very much for that, I was planning to shield my guitar and you just saved me on that one
I am loving your channel. Awesome. Thanks
amazing! You could achieve the same result (or similar) using two tiny buffers within your bass. They would prevent each signal from interacting with each other. All that could fit within the cavity and save you all the hassle with with cables, mixers and split boxes.
Agree 100%! Plus, I think Rick pups, with their purer sound, would sound fantastic with simple onboard EQ.
Indeed, there was a short part where I likened the effect to a dual active bass with external electronics, but I garbled my delivery and edited it out. I have other reasons for using the mixer anyway, I also play keys with the band, and on some songs our singer is playing his own bass, other songs I'm playing bass on a separate keyboard, plus two channels coming from the Rick, all going into a bass amp with only one input, the mixer is an essential part of my rig. And it gives me the option of patching in effects if I ever feel the need.
Hot take
I like the pickup cover
Great vid, as always! FWIW, my preference is for longer vids -- they're more like a couch you can sink into, as opposed to the chairs that (other peoples'!) shorter videos tend to be.
Good job man . Congrats.
I would love to have an acrylic replacement for my pickup cover like yours. Or at least something see through. I've bought a chrome one off line and that will do the job once it arrives, but now I'm feeling jealous of how good yours looks with acrylic haha
Im currently using a pbass that ive wired the split coils into their own channels with two outputs. The bass is strung to suit b-d-d-f tuning. One d string being a 95 guage and the other 50.
I enjoy it alot.
Each line runs through its own effects chain and amp. The b and low d go through some bass effects and amp and the higher d and f strings go through guitar effects and guitar amp. I did this because i wanted to find something to challenge my playing and open up new options. I run the guitar side with an octave up pedal and some dirt to the tone it really does sound crisp against the bass side filling the room . Really twists my brain playing two seperate things sometimes but totally worth it.
Im planing to find an EB-0, convert it to a headless bass with this wiring in mind and tweeked pickup placement. Now ive found the concept to be sound with the pbass im enthused.
If i get round to it ill film it and remember this channel , perhaps youd be curious to witness the noise.
Aweosme videos thanks pal. Found you through your ebo mod video and just binged four hours , great stuff.
Im subbed and will follow from the uk.... keep em comin!!!
Aside from phasing, I don't know the exact wiring and control of that bass but it is acting as if the switching puts the 2 together in series. For anyone who doesn't understand electrical wiring, series vs parallel is how the electricity travels in a circuit. If instead of pickups you put 2 bulbs in the circuit, 1 on 1 off, in series one on is super bright, but both on decreases the output. This is because 100% of the available electricity goes through both components increasing resistance and sharing the load 50/50. In parallel both lights glow bright because the electricity can choose which path to take so each bulb gets 100% of what is available to it. Winding back the volume on one pickup is like adding a dimmer switch to the bulbs so we can get 50/50, 40/60 or 75/25 etc.
I have 4001 and find the neck pickup needs to be at about 85% before it’s just too much bottom end. Thanks for for the shielding tips - tempted to see if you would do a bit of a upgrade to mine. you sound like you could be in NZ.
I'm in Christchurch yes. Are you local?
@@fanbladeinstruments I am in New Zealand. Presently looking at purchasing a 4003. Undecided. Any advice welcome.
One could use the Treble Bezel by TubeAmpology to cover those gaps in the bridge pickup surround.
Lights will also cause a bad hum. Are you suggesting Rickenbacker made a mistake in design? Gasp! I have a 2010 4003 that needed quite a few kweaks. Also, I love aluminum tape! Love your vids.
I was thinking about your thoughts on a thumb rest, can I suggest you print the thumb rest and attach it to a Musicman.
I made a bezel from 200 year old Brazilian rosewood. Really add to the look of the bass.
If the PUs are wired in parallel, as is the case with most basses, you get a significant impedance drop (about half the impedance of each individual PU) when operated together. Hence less gain @ the amp's front end...
Some great information and a brilliant idea regarding the stereo capability of a Ric, however, the volume of the video made the bass sound the same each time. I assume in the room you were in the difference was apparent. Thanks for this post.
Yeah, youtube not only compresses the audio but they normalise everything too, if I really wanted to show off the differences then I'd have to artificially exaggerate them in the mix and that's a slippery slope I'd prefer not to go down. Cheers
@@fanbladeinstruments Thanks for the reply. I wasn't sure you were aware of the final mix we get to hear. Beautiful color on that Ric, too. Is that one of the amber tinted ones or is it vintage? My 2004 FireGlo is still kind of gaudy, not a smooth burst like that one.
Would you consider making more of the bezels and selling them?
Great work....
What is the average weight of those bases. And the average cost$
Tx.J.P.
Other solution is have a pull switch to put the pickups in series. Parallel windings sound restricted. The signals that are different between the two pickups are greatly attenuated when wired in parallel. When you put the pickups in series, the pickups are completely additive. I have been doing this on all my Jazz basses for decades, and there is no going back. I will be doing so on my newly acquired 4003. It is all the difference to my ear, and keeps a Jazz noiseless, rather than noise when one pickup is turned down a bit to get the tone bloom we all like. I was disappointed to learn Ricks do not have reverse would coils and reversed magnets. So dumb. That needs to change. I will test mine to confirm. Thanks for the video!
A "premium instrument" without shielding stock from the factory is just sad. For crying out loud, my Squier PJ has it and it cost like $250! If a small bottle of shielding paint is dirt cheap for me, I can only imagine what it would cost for a manufacturer like Rickenbacker to buy in bulk.
It's probably the same stupid excuse we've heard manufacturers use about stainless steel frets; "bUt iT's nOt vInTaGe aCcUrAtE". It doesn't matter, you give people all the small quality-of-life upgrades you can in this price range, only exception being on vintage reissues for obvious reasons
it really is just companies being cheap because they know they can
@@viridian_meridian american companies complain about everything moving to china, while churning out stuff like this
@@ileutur6863 Seriously. I’d like to be proud of “American quality.” But I can’t say I have any evidence of it personally, only the opposite really. I do however, have evidence of Japanese, Korean, German, and Chinese quality at low prices.
Wouldn‘t that loudness loss with two pickups on full volume compensate for the loudness with just one pickup? That would be a nice thing so volumes won‘t change while switching from neck to both to bridge pickup.
Hi, I wanna know how to replace the Rickenbacker 4003's buckle locker,I had to try pick it off down of the bass's locker but it to hard to unscrew it. and which buckle locker you used I have see the original buckle is to rough, which means lot of buckle locks cant install on it.
How did you make the “stereo” box. What jacks do you need and what’s the wiring?? Thank in advance!
Greetings! At 9:35 a pop up addresses not mentioning patching in effects pedals. Will you please say how to properly do that?
Great video, well done 👍
However, when all's said and done Rickenbacker's are truly awful instruments! I've owned two - hated the first one - moved it on - missed it - bought another - hated it - moved it on.
Still miss them but hate their quirks. That's Rickenbacker's for you.
What was your previous video called?
Question: I’m looking to shield my Rick too. Crazy buzz which I’ve tried to ignore but just can’t anymore haha. My question: which is better, aluminum or copper shielding ? Is there a difference. I’ve always seen copper shielding in examples but yours is the first one with aluminum shielding. Not sure if there’s much of a difference.
Cheers mate 👍🏻
I've never noticed much of a difference, in theory copper is a better conductor, but aluminium works too, certainly well enough to shield a few pickups. Be aware of the continuity test I did, the adhesive on your tape might not work so well. Cheers.
@@fanbladeinstruments follow up question: did you solder ground wire at all? I’ve seen a ton of guys use say copper wire for example to ground everything but I’ve also seen guys just put down the copper shielding without soldering any sort of wire.
Can you please tell what's the name of the song that starts at 4:28? I love it so much but Shazam fails to recognize it :(
It's a track I made over a decade ago, I think it's original title was 'Solidification'. There's probably the full version floating about online somewhere complete with terrible singing of cringy lyrics, it was my phase where I was still playing at being the tortured artist before realising it was way more fun to be a mad scientist. I recommmend sticking to the instrumental mix, it's much better.
@@fanbladeinstruments Thanks man. It's a very cool song, don't sell yourself short. I can't find it tho. If you have a link or something I would appreciate it.
Quick question about the shielding. Please help me. I didn’t find this answer anywhere: do you need to ground the copper papers too?
Also, do you need to pass a jumper cable from the bridge pickup copper housing to the rest of the copper on the main housing?
@@rafbass you should look a bit close at how he did the shielding. The shielding of the cavities folds just a little over the edge of body. That part makes contact with the shielding layer put at the back of the pickguard when it is screwed in place. The shielding of pickguard is contacted to ground through the outer shells of the pots which are grounded and make contact to the shielding at holes through the pickguard. Makes no difference if you use copper or aluminium, the principle is the same.
Might be a dumb question, but can’t you run two chords out of the bass so each output does one pickup?
No! If you use the standard Jack it cancels out the stereo Jack with a spring switch as you plug in.
@@dixiefallas7799 Not only that, but if you plug a mono jack into the rick-o-sound output while having the mono output also in use, you will effectively shorten both pup's to ground and you will have no sound at all.
what is the finish called on that rick?
It's called Amber Fireglow, it was the 'finish of the year 2006'. The fact that it's a 2008 serial number shows how long their back-order waiting list is. Cheers.
Hey mate love your content..is there any chance of looking at how this is wired up as I have a Tiesco base I am wanting to wire up just like your base here..that would be much appreciated..if you need an email address let me know..fellow Kiwi
Kia ora 😁 I'm getting right into that in next week's video, stay tined and thanks for watching
What year is this 4003? is that a polyurethane finish?
2008. At 8:33 in the video you can see 08 on the jack-plate.
14:58 the only thing that comes to mind is face cancellation
Phase is only a small part of this equation but is def still a part
I'm part of the cult that refuses to take off the bridge cover. This is like buying a car that shifts its gears automatically. Why would you want that?
If you remove the bridge pickup cover and retain the trash bridge you dont know much about guitars and are just folllowing a trend :)
(Hipshot bridge, retain bridge cover, thumb rest for neck pickup)