2017 Rickenbacker 4003s pre and post-modification - Paul Gray, The Damned

[@gazzabel7040]

I saw the damned last night first time in years with the classic line up with Paul and Rat …what an incredible performance his bass tone was incredible and his playing superb ..

[@candydormizzi2500]

A legend here !

[@mobiuschrome2878]

Such a great inspiration

[@carolineleonard8214]

Dave Dearnley's mod sounds great to me. Definitely an exciting improvement. When I was playing Dave looked after my Rick 4001 and other basses. Top bloke.

[@MrLouisianaHayride]

I'm so glad I came across this video. I recently converted to Ricks after playing Fenders for years. Got myself a 4003S Walnut and yea. They do sound different than the classic sounds I love so much. Great info!

[@hadrosaurus]

Wow, can't believe you're on here. Many thanks for all the inspiration and look forward to more videos in the future.

[@DerekLyons]

Great to see this old friend ! Del Loves you ! XXX

[@xavitattoo]

Thanks Paul for the tips

[@HappyJackBass]

I'm hearing much greater clarity with the Konig pickups - definitely an improvement.

[@koont666]

Great improvement.

[@bandsbikesandboozereviews]

Do you know what me old mucker? I was never a fan of Ricks until I heard you playing on this and on the video for Beginning of the End. Now I think I need a Rickenbacker !

[@quakerkid3280]

Post-mod. Black album heaven.

[@jrosner6123]

The mods brought it to life, btw.

[@turmelmark]

Nice bass, Paul. It would be nice to hear this live ! I think you used a mesa-boogie 400+ amp on your NA tour. I hope you come back to Canada again. Cheers

[@paulgraybass]

I used the Mesa for one 1 or 2 shows only - it was carried as a spare - when the hired Ampeg died. It was okaaay...

[@tankthelord1178]

Nice one PG.

[@jrosner6123]

Ergonomics....the most important feature.

[@La_Florence_75]

wahou ! so nice !

[@adamc950]

Alright Paul,,, adam here... I love rickenbacker basses. I got a 2011 4003 in fireglow. Mate, you are a great bass player,,, love the damned,,, love your sound and tight playing style... Any chance of doing a cover of rabid over you??? Get back to me mate cheers Adam

[@motofugazzi]

The new mods sound great! Any chance you'll be posting a bass video of Look Left soon? I'm fairly certain I sorted it out the other night on my Rickenbacker Glenn Fry edition bass.

[@tretto5967]

It sounds nice but that’s not much when you hear the ricks I prefer B to A definitely, definitely got that Paul vibe ❤️

[@bassmanluke]

Wow ok…. I’ve been wanting to rewind my 11k Ric hi gains to 70’s spec (8k ish as you know)… but now there is this option of a Retrovibe… how you feeling about the Retrovibe after living with it for a while Paul? What your opinion on having a modern Ric hi gain rewound to 8k instead. I’ve also hear classic amplification in USA make hi gains to 70’s spec, but I’m UK based anyway.

[@FromaTwistedMind]

Hey Paul! What modifications are there on your Gibson Thunderbird? Tone quality on that baby is insanely good.

[@bassmanluke]

Paul have you tried the 8.4K version from Retrovibe? If so what did you prefer? When I installed my Retrovibe into my 4003 (replacing my original stock hi gain) the pickups seemed out of phase when both pickup volume were full up. When both at full volume the sound went more snarky/thin and hollowy sounding… if I rolled back a tiny bit of either volume it would sound bigger/louder/boomier. I just unsoldered the two wires from the old pickup and soldered the Retrovibe exactly the same! Black wire to the pickup Selector and silver ground to the pot (neck volume pot). Does your do that out of phase thing? Why did mine?

[@guythomas342]

Yup - they will have been out of phase. It's actually Ric Higains are out of phase with most other pickups, but being single wire and shield, it is hard to reverse the phase. Ric Higains are even out of phase with Rick HB1 pickups too! At least on the HB1 you can easily flip the phase. On a recent project I had a15k HB1 in the bridge position and a Retrovibe 12k in the neck, and both are naturally in phase. In the past I have modified Rick Higains to 2wires+shield - so much more versatile! Seems like you already found the solution! BTW - The "Retrovibe" mod is brilliant. It would seem that Rickenbacker have done their very best to de-clank their modern basses (330k pots all round doesn't help either). On my 2015 "S" I changed the volumes to 250k, tones to 500k and caps to 0.033uF. Much better!

[@frankbiondo2476]

PG, Thank you for post a pre vs. post mod demo. I too, dig the post mods. By the way do you know what tubes you use in the SVT? When we saw the Damned show in St. Louis I thought the rig sounded evil & wicked! So much so an asshat screamed that the bass was too loud second song of the set.

[@paulgraybass]

Hi Frank, the Ampegs on the US runs are newer models (SVT I think) that are hired so sorry no idea what the valves are. I now use a Sansamp for outfront and iem monitoring for consistence of sound - so that's mostly what you're hearing outfront.

[@Archtube90]

@@paulgraybass Hi, what model of Sansamp is it? Straight to the desk and then a poweramp/cab set up on stage?

[@rustyshackleford7788]

Turn up! You sound unplugged hahaha

[@tracyblair3064]

Nice demo. One other feature that may contribute to the tonal difference is neck construction. The 4001 and 4003 are neck-through while the 4003s is set-neck.

[@musikman43204]

Nope, 4003S is neck through. 4001S was set neck.

[@1982Grrr]

Got any spare Ricks? I'll give you a fiver a pack of monster munch and... Well that's all I got really.

[@FromaTwistedMind]

Hey Paul.... I'll see and raise Ben, a tenner and a multi pack of Monster Munch & maybe a Crunchie.