Rickenbacker 4003 Bass

2002 Fireglo - same specs as others here

Great live or recorded (watch out for that single coil hum!). I use the Ric bass with Fender stainless steel flatwounds (45-105?)in an alt original band with retro vibe, and this bass suits the music perfectly. Everything from trash punk, psychedelia, retro rock, to mellow singer-songwriter stuff. It's flexibility lies in it's two pickups, 3-way switch, and adjustable tone and volume knobs for each p/u. A lot more low-end than you might expect. It's fundamental tone is very smooth and punchy like McCartney's Sgt. Pepper era stuff. It will, however, growl like a mad dog depending on which p/u and tone settings I use. Don't expect a Ric to sound like anything but a Ric though. If you like classic Ric tone, you won't be disappointed. Personally I love it.

Perfect, beautiful finish and tight, solid hardware. After changing the suck-butt original factory roundwounds with flatwounds, I had to adjust the dual trussrod system (quite easy) and the intonation (not very easy). Also, the nut was cut a bit too high from the factory! - - I had to break out my little round tapered file to cut the nut right. That's OK too, since I always do my own setups. If you are unsure about doing a setup, it would pay to have a tech do it (20-40 bucks) since you will end up with an awesome playing bass - - like mine! Some would deduct points for a bass setup not being great from the factory. I won't do this -- I only deduct points if I can't set one up to where I like it.

No horror stories here to be told about warped necks and such.

Hope to never have to use the warranty! I don't even know if my warranty registration card even made it to the Ric factory on time... (10 days from the date of sale??!!) Hell, it may take you a week to get your bass if you buy it online! They could join us here in the 21st century and allow you to register online...

I've been playing 18 years pro and semi-pro. I love everything about this bass.

Its a 2003 fretted in Fireglo. I had an old 70's 4003 but sold it (darn) Needed a new one once I began to long for it again. Standard controls w/ treble p/u cover, 3-way toggle and standard issue factory specs. Tuners rule! Ive played dozens of basses (including Fender, Warwick, Ibanez, hagstrom!) and this is thing stays in tune more consistently than any of em'. Not many frills but who needs em'. Ive come to realize that these classic basses (like the Jazz, P-Bass, Music Man, etc.) really have all you need sound, feature wise (for 4-strings anyway). If you want a new piece of furniture buy yourself a $5000 Fodera or the like.

I play in small-medium clubs, everything from Classic Rock, Dead, Country, Bluegrass, to Sabbath riffage and punk and the occasional slap solo foray. The RIck kills for everything save for slap. And this is only due to the lack of a comfy position to whack. This thing just has balls! Compared to my old Warwick (which sounded positively wimpy and non-distinct) the Rick cuts like crazy. I play w/ two loud dueling guitars and I have no trouble cutting through the mix. Its highs and mids are pronounced but the lows still thump. And you can really get a wide range of tones by messing w/ the controls (or use a good preamp). Try flatwounds and ease of the treble for a great Upright impersonation. Overall a totally unique and distinct sounding instument.

Super low action out of the box, but free of bzzzz. Beautiful craftmanship, really unlike anything else. All maple, neckthrough design = heavy! Doesnt bother me. This is a bass not a ukelele. Thick binding and high-gloss rosewood board actually plays more like maple. Frets are well dressed and even. Beautiful maple grain under trans-finish throughout bass.

So far so good. No problems. Seems to be a timetested tank like design. Maple is hard as hell so it should hold up under climate fluctuations.

n/a

A dude/chick just looks cool playing a Rick. You just dont see many of em' and you'll be sure to get a hell-yeah from some of the old-timers in the crowd. It does have a distinctive sound and playing style. It must be tested first to see if its right for you. After playing one for a bit (especially live)I belive you'll find other basses to be a bit vanilla in comparison.

mine is a 2005 in the 5004 limited edition color Montezuma Brown.
with the other reviews the features are already posted here

This is the best sounding bass I have. It compliments my collection well. Sounds like nothing else but a Ric

Perfectly setup from the factory and the intonation was perfect all the way up the neck

It is a Ric 'nuff said

Had some questions about a few features on it and got a responce within minutes from the comapny when I emailed them.

I've been playin about 5 years steady now had played for about 3 or 4 years then stopped for about 5 and took it back up about 5 years ago. I also own a Dean Rhapsody 12 string bass, a Dean Edge 5 string, and a "P" bass that I parted togeather. a wide range of bass sounds and I love that fact.

Classic Geddy spec 4003 bass in jet glo. It's my 4th rickenbacker as I also own a 4001/v63, a 4003/s5 and a 360v64/12 string, all factories lefties. This guitar is as well made as all my other rics, the finish is faltless and near custom order quality.

Hardware is also well finished and more robust than on my Fenders, nice blue tint chrome with no blemishes and bomb proof frets.

I read in some of the earlier reviews that the 4003 does not have the sound of a Tobais or Spector, If you are out shopping for a Mishubishi evo would you buy a Morgan??, no so don't compare a classic passive sounding bass to a modern active one.

The sounds that are available are fantastic with crisp piano like definition and a real low end bark, granded like any guitar it will take a few years playing to reach it's full potential and I would change the strings to rotosound nickle swingbass 66's as the help to tame the sometimes over excitable top end harmonics. Honestly these basses mature like fine wine, my 4003/s5 is 10 years old and sounds awsome!!

Said it earlier, nothing comes close for the price (except fender japan perhaps?). Let me re-phrase that, nothing built in the states buy a "classic" guitar builder comes close for the price haha!!

This is wear the guitar lets me down a little, they are very fragile instruments and I have to get the Rics set up more often than my Fenders.

The oil based finish on the necks also seem to get very sticky in hot weather, more so than cellulose Fenders and Gibsons I find.

I am based in the UK and ordered the guitar through the excellent Rics R us so no probs there, Although I have never dealt with the company I have heard some pretty bad things about customer service.

I have been playing for over 10 years and own about 14 intstruments, I always seem to be on the look out for Rics over Gibsons,Fenders and Gretsches etc as they have a look sound and build quality that puts them a cut above the rest.They are also one of the few companies out there that cater for us south paws without the stupid price hikes.

4003 + Svt = RNR

96' fireglo, made in the USA. Standard features for 4003 rics (check the website at www.rickenbacker.com).

Lost of tonal control for a passive bass!

I play mostly fingerstyle alternative rock and this bass can really cut through the mix with our two guitarists even though I play fingerstyle (I prefer to have all tone and volume knobs on full with both pickups running).

I was a j-bass kinda guy but I instantly fell in love with the look, (and especially) feel and sound of this bass. Breathtaking in every way. Different from the traditional fender sounds I was used to... but breathtaking.

I originally was looking for jetglo or mapleglo finish... but when I saw the fireglo in the flesh I was stunned. The finish, binding, neck and general construction is flawless.

Easilly the most beautiful bass I have ever laid eyes on. Everyone who sees it compliments it's looks... and people are always drooling over it whenever I bring it to any of the local music stores.

thinner body than my fender basses... but a very solid bass. Due to it's stunning finish and general knockout looks I find that I baby and protect this bass more than I do any of my other basses.

n/a

I think I would sell my first child before I would sell this bass. If I lost it I would cry... a lot... and then buy another.

I love the feel of the neck... it has killer looks, and a one of a kind sound that really cuts through. I am playing this bass a lot right now... for the longest time I was a 100% fender jazz bass guy (any bass that I would try out never matched my fender in sound or feel), but once I played the ric, it was love at first sight. Now my fender is my #2.

Standard Rickenbacker 4003 Fireglow bass made in 2003
It's an all-maple neck-through design (with rosewood fingerboard).
She's long scale, got two stock Rickenbacker single-coil high gain pickups,
Also got some obsolete features like Rick-o-Sound and the mechanical
mute. She's got a pickup gauard over the treble pickup. Most players
take this baby off as soon as they get the bass (myself included) but
I've heard there are some (pick players mostly) who prefer it on.

All in all quite a few features - maybe a few too many, actually.

It's neck-through so it's got lots of sustain and not too much punchiness.
I wouldn't use it for slapping but you can if you really want to. It suits
my style well - I'm more of a melodic player and I play anything from hard rock to heavy metal to blues to jazz to R&B to whatever the hell.
VERY versatile bass - it's got great highs and big boomy lows (it's bassy as hell), though not that much mid.
It's a got a rich, full, woody, growly sound. The high-gains are beautiful pickups and I love their sound,
though they can be noisy (they are single coil). It's a bit of a trade-off I suppose - you can always use a noise gate if you're stuck. I normally play it with the treble pickup turned all the way up and the bass pickup volume turned down about one-quarter.

It was set up well when I bought it, though I changed to flatwounds so
I had to set it up myself again. Note that many stores set the action
too high for some reason which might turn off potential buyers.
I noticed no flaws on the bass.

Good, reliable, solid bass - it'll last forever. The finish seems a little
delicate, though - try not to scratch it - not that I don't think it's durable - it's just so damn beautiful I don't want to risk anyone or anything sharp coming anywhere near it. For myself I only bring it
to gigs with a decent-sized stage. If someone scratched my baby I'd
have to kill them and I don't want to go to prison.
The strap buttons are a little small though I've never had a major problem - I try and keep one hand on the bass at all times but if you like to run around a lot you might want to consider replacing them.
I like to adjust the truss rods on all my basses (or at least check up on them) twice a year - once in spring and once in fall. This baby has a dual-rod system and only needs minor adjustments once in a while.

Never had to deal with Rickenbacker directly, but there is an online
forum of Rick users (very knowledgeable guys) that's frequented by
the owner of the company himself so most questions you have can get
answered by going there. I hear that customer service - in the
traditional sense - can be slow, though (keep in mind this is not a huge multinational company like Fender)

I've been playing for nigh 20 years - my other bass is a MIM Fender P.
They both have their advantages but for most things the Rick is the better bass. I just love it and I wish I had the money to buy five more. I only give a 9 rating because 10 means perfection and nothing, not even a Rick is perfect.

made in USA where else, (2002) came with case which was lined like a coffin, very good, but can't fit it in boot (trunk) of car

Unusual colour of deep blue

usual features

sounds top notch, great for rock, really booms out & cuts through, however tends to be a bit clicky if played to far up the neck, but hey it still sounds great.
Very user friendly for pop and slap,
Really turns heads when played through twin harkie 100w heads!!!
sounds great when using boss processor

action set up at factory
pickups set if it aint bust don't fix it

what can I say will it play live well, is the pope catolic??

just like a VW very reliable

always have a back up just in case a string snaps but that can be any chunkerar!!

not had any trouble with support left handed was not a problem

top totty

What more can you ask for in a passive style bass? There's 2 pickups, 2 Volumes, Two tones, and a whole lot of useful sounds. Anything else would compromise the incredible sound of this bass.

I play straight up rock, from The Who to Yes to Rush and Genesis. This bass is great for that. It cuts through a mix, has plenty of bottom end and near endless sustain. I expected this of course. What I didn't expect was for a friend of mine, who's into Marcus Miller, to start slappin' and poppin' some jazz stuff and have it sound so completely right! It was amazing. He does have a very light touch, which is needed to get a good clean atttack out of the pickups when employing such a style, but the pickups compress nicely and produce a fine musical attack even when my less skilled hands do the Entwistle thing.

There is also a myth that a Rickenbacker is a one trick pony. Not true. Try a couple of these settings.

Full on bridge pickup is a nice sharp attack great for rock, metal, and punk.

The neck solo'd is great for a more vintage vibe. I use it to capture an old school motown sort of tone.

Both pickups full on produces a great rhythm sound. Very full and dense.

Both pickups, bass pickup tone rolled off, with slight roll off on treble volume knob gives you a full 4001'esque tone that has a lot of uses.

Try some other settings as well. You won't be disappointed. There are any number of great, musical tones. There's nothing I dislike about the sound of this bass.

The finish was beautiful. The binding, controls, tuners and frets are all high quality and well worth every penny. What brings this down to an 8 is the stock nickel strings, which I don't think have the right sound, and the fact thhat the nut slot for the D is a little narrow. Nothing major, and I would definitely recommend this bass to anyone.

Even though it's light and wear's nicely this bass has every indication that it'll last a lot longer than me. It's put together with a solidity that my Fender, Yamaha, and Carlo Robelli can only dream of.

The warranty is 5 years from manufacture, which is pretty good. I've heard that Rickenbacker themselves are hard to deal with, but Mike Parks at www.ricpage.com is the best. He's the only man you should consider buying a new Rick from. Not only does he give you a great price, but he backs it up with impeccible service.

Where else can you get a quality American made, neck through instrument with such a great sound and reputation for under $1000? Not Fender. Not anyone. I am a huge John Entwistle and Geddy Lee fan. I like a bass with a bright attack and was going to get a Geddy Lee model Fender Jazz. But that bass is $700. Add the case (Rickenbacker's all come with cases) and the total comes to $800 to $850. That's for a japanese instrument. I think the extra $100 is more than worth it to support American craftsmanship.

2004, factory standard.
Fireglo finish.
Hardshell case.

The perfect bass guitar. It'll go anywhere from deep pulsing sounds, to punchy punk rock, to a full piano-like ring. There's no sound that I haven't been able to achieve with this bass. The output is super hot, and I've found that I usually have to run it through something to take it down a notch before hitting effects or an amp. For recording, I usually go direct into a tube preamp and straight into my audio interface. Sounds unbelievable DI'ed. I just can't say enough good things about the sound of this bass.

The factory setup is the best of any instrument I've owned, from Gibson to Fender and everything in between. You can feel that this instrument is hand made, it's as if every detail was tuned for this particular bass. The action and intonation came preset exactly how I would want it to be -- Perfect. The finish is deep and the trim/accessories are perfectly integrated. It's also well balanced, as far as weight is concerned (if you let go of the bass, it stays put and doesn't start creeping up).

It's a brick, what can I say? I'll be playing this for the next 30 years.

Haven't had to deal with Rickenbacker.

I would buy this bass again and again. I was worried ordering this mail order, as I hadn't played a Rick in a while and was just going on memory from that initial "wow, I want one!" factor. I'm so emmensely pleased with this instrument.

rickenbacker 4003 bass, born in 2004. all maple neck-thru, two hi-gain (passive) ric pickups, 2 volume & 2 tone controls. mono and ric-o-sound (stereo) output. dual truss rods. straplocks come standard, and it comes with a sweet case.

the electronics are passive, not active, so there's no fancy-pants musicman stingray active eq, nor do you have to worry about replacing batteries (i'm retarded enough that i can barely handle changing the battery in my TU-2)

what should a bass feature? it's a bass. its job is to play low notes. my 4003 does that quite well. the ric-o-sound thing could be really cool, but i haven't had an opportunity to use it yet. i'm going to give it an 8, but if you consider "being totally awesome" to be the most important feature of a bass, then you should give it a 10.

my musical style is rock music. my band sounds like this band: www.israeliwarplane.com. that's because it is my band. so, the 4003 sounds great for our type of music, but probably so would any other bass that isn't a complete piece of garbage. actually, the bass i used before i got my ric was a mexican p-bass that my friend's dad picked out of the trash, only worked when the volume was on "10", and the nut was slid to the treble side almost 1/8". it sounded pretty good for what we were doing.

right, so just about any bass would work for us, but the 4003 works really, really well. i'm deeply in love with the neck pickup, and always play neck or neck & bridge, rarely bridge only. i play through an svt 3 pro, and sometimes have dreams of buying a second 3pro, racking them, getting an 810 and wiring it in stereo, and playing through the ric-o-sound. that could be amazing, but there are probably other more amazing sounds i could get if i ever got the money.

i'm going to give it a 9, because i guess it's not "versatile". if not a loser and you want something that sounds like a balls to the wall bass, though, then you should give it a 10.

the bass was set-up quite well at sam ash. i went all wayne's world and went in like twice a week for two months to play it until i could justify parting with the the wad of fifties so big my wallet wouldn't close. i've had it for about six months now, and as far as i can tell, it's totally flawless. as an aside, i just got a tiny dent in it, looks like a cable end hit it. as it accrues more battle damage, i will get less upset, but for now, i'm deeply depressed.

perhaps the best thing about the 4003 is that it's the prettiest bass you will ever play. mine has a jet glo finish, and, honestly, it's the only instrument that i've ever played that i would consider a work of art. that said, it doesn't matter how it looks if it plays like crap. fortunately, it's also the best-playing bass i've ever played. i've only ever played three basses extensively (ones that i've owned, or borrowed for an extended period of time) but i've played a lot in stores. stingrays are nice. i played a thunderbird that was okay. fender p's and j's are okay, but i wouldn't spend a grand on them. to me, the ric just played better. the fact that it's a pretty stunning beauty is just icing. oh - and i really love the fact that it's a neck-thru, as it's ridiculously easy to play "way up high on the tiny strings", if i ever need to.

this bass has withstood live playing, and it'd god damn better continue to withstand live playing, because i'm not getting a new one. the rickenbacker warranty is five years FROM DATE OF MANUFACTURE, not date of sale, which is kind of a big deal. the fact that it's a neck-thru can be a bit of a double-edged sword, i guess, since if the neck on a j or p got screwed up, you could just replace it and still have the body, electronics, and color you liked, whereas on the 4003 you're just screwed. still, i haven't had any problems with it, and i can't forsee anything going wrong with it. i give it a ten, because i can't see how someone could ask any more of it.

haven't dealt with them, hopefully will never have to.

i've been playing for almost 3 years, never had a lesson. just picked everything up by playing in bands - there are worse ways to do it, i think. that said, i'm far from the most experienced player, so maybe you should disregard everything i say.

i play the 4003 through an svt 3 pro and an avatar 2x10. it sounds good, and it'd sound even better if i had a 4x10, but my biggest concern is playing shows, and hauling a 2x10 around is much easier (and not impossible, as a 4x10 would probably be in some situations). the point being, i'm leaving some of this bass's potential untapped, which is a shame for now, but will be awesome later when i'm in a position where i can best complement it with an appropriate amp/cab/van.

what this entire review boils down to: i'm not the most experienced bassist in the world. i even cringe to call myself a 'bassist', though i play in bands that make good, original music and play shows, for people, not in my house. but this is how i feel: lots of basses sound good, but if i play anything else, it feels like i'm playing bass. have you ever seen return of the jedi? when i play my ric, i feel like emperor palpatine, firing lightning bolts out of my finger tips. i'm not even kidding. it's that awesome.

so, if you play rock music and are looking for an awesome bass, check out the 4003. if you are "G.A.S.ing" for one, and have never played one, don't buy one. it is not a warwick six string with active pickups, so if that's what you like in a bass, don't buy one. not to step on anybody's toes, but those are for wankers. 4003s are for rockers.

if you're looking for a great value, can spend around a thousand dollars, and don't need a bass that can make you dinner, check out a ric. but, please, play one first. they're kind of hard to find in stores - i know, i wanted to try another one out to compare but nowhere i called in nyc or on long island had a 4003. i finally gave up and just bought mine; couple months later, sam ash got another in. i played it, to see if it was any better or worse than mine, and it was exactly the same.

so, there it is. the rickenbacker 4003 is the finest bass i have ever laid eyes on, and hopefully will be the last bass i ever buy. if you also want to feel like you're shooting lightning bolts from your finger tips, then you should look into getting one.