martthebass

Love mine. The Chinese stuff doesn't sound like one....hell a 4001 doesn't sound like one. And as many have said in the past...it's the idiosyncrasies that keep you going back for more....

Last first... Make sure you have a good play on the G&L before you got one, the US version has a meaty neck, it sounds good but is a handful and IMHO over complicated compared to a MMRay5. the Gibbos.....I agree with Dingus. the Rick, very marmite, I have a love hate relationship with one. Looks the dogs but to many plays like a dog. However I get more compliments on the sound of my 4003 than my other basses. If only I could get my Status to sound like one....

Cheers Stevie, I'll check up on that.

Nothing at all wrong with the feet. I'm neither a BF fan boi or a BF basher.....it's the little faults that keep me interested. After 20 odd years of TE heaviness I can put up with a little hassle.

There's the rub Stevie, this was bought used and I was aware this could be an issue with these cabs. I guess I'm on the list for a reply but I don't mind being proactive and sorting it before it causes more damage. I don't see that BF have a responsibility to me as I didn't buy it from them......hopefully it's a cheap and easy fix.

I own a Barefaced cab and a Rick......I feel like a leper.

I know this is an unfortunate common problem. I've tried to source alternatives from BF but have had no reply to date. I'm concerned the cab may soon become part of my foot one of these days so could anyone give a heads up on an alternative that fits and hopefully doesn't fall apart? Cheers, Mart

US built Ray, 4 string, 2EQ......everything else sucks...... in my humble opinion of course.

I daren't hange the strings on mine for fear of screwing up the action.......

[quote name='marcus bell' timestamp='1384893028' post='2282047'] hehe same with me and a 4001s [/quote] Stop pining Marcus, a Rick is for life, not just for Christmas ;-)

Like many for years I gassed for a Rick and when I met one in real life I hated it. It was a 4003, I found the neck clubby and a bit too wide at the volute (though necessary to avoid neck problems earlier versions of the 400X sometimes had) and being a MM ray person I couldn't find a comfortable playing position due to the metalwork and the bound edges. A couple of years back I decided to have another go and swapped my MM ray 30th for a particularly fine Mid Blue 4003. I decided almost instantly (again) that I didn't like it and agreed with the 'vendor' to do a swap back. For various reasons this took a couple of weeks. In the intervening time I spent some time noodling on it in the house. Amazingly I found there was a great selection of sounds in there - some of which made me sound like Bruce Foxton et al (albeit with a significant hand injury) and it wasn't really an issue to play with the slab body and...... Anyway a deal was a deal and the bass went back to it's original owner but I was regretting not spending more time with it before deciding it was poo. Fast forward to earlier this year, I had some cash and decided to try out a 4004Cii, it must be better with all the ergonomic mods i thought. Unfortunately in my eyes and ears not, and this time I waited a good couple of months before letting it go. I'll not go into details but it just wasn't a 4003 soundwise and thats what I obviously wanted. In short, the 4003 has a number of design idiosyncracies and does have a series of characterisic sounds but it's not crap, it just polarises opinion and needs time to really decide if it's for you or not. It's no more a clank plank than a Ray is only a growl monster....

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1384892604' post='2282036'] Er.... shall I tell him? [/quote] Beat me to it.

.........£700. Education today ;-) Still cheap though.

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1384733813' post='2280212'] I have no problem with Rick protecting their design rights. and all the while there are loads of shops openly selling modern Ricky copies who apparently just get left to it by John Hall. It's a joke. [/quote] I believe RIC have started to play catch up on some of these. The 'local' shop to me had a significant number of Rockinbetters on the wall and recently sold them all off as a job lot when they received a number of cease and dissist mails from RIC.

For every person who loves a Ric/Ray there will be someone with the exact opposing view. It's probably something to do with the 3rd law of thermodynamics. As Geddy said 'different hearts have different strings'.

[quote name='the boy' timestamp='1384429092' post='2276529'] I think we need to be clear on a few things. The vm range has had a few rebirths. The latest run are cheap and difficult to work with I will agree. However the earlier vm range is excellent. They are not on a par with the cv range as the cvs are amazing guitars and well worth the extra money but they are very good entry to intermediate guitars. I've had 2 of the new ones pass through here and I have to say I was surprised at how they felt like affinity guitars. It's as if there's no substance to the wood or the pups. The old dd pups were great. I dunno what's gone wrong but someone at Squier has lost the concept. Anyway if youre buying vm buy old. [/quote] Maybe there's some variability here? I replaced my (fundamentally) Chinese Affinity P bass with a VM77 and they are chalk and cheese. The Affinity originally had a very weak pup, crap tuners, a single ply pick guard and the body was very lightweight. The VM77 is built like a tank in comparison at 9.5lbs, has a 3 ply guard, hot pups (though they will get changed as I prefer more mellow) and good tuners. I'm not a Fender/Squier fanboi but it seems pretty good to me for the cash. Oh, my VM is a 2013 model made in Indonesia...

[quote name='thunderider' timestamp='1384003048' post='2271746'] i got a ric 4004...it was for sale on here just after xmas....but i couldnt get that rick sound from it i bought a 60s bassman lookalike basicallyafenderside kick...it made it sound muddy....then i found a cheap ashdown 180 blue face combo and ashdown 115 and i can get a sound im happy with,loads of treble,piano like!!,but im putting it up for sale,or have some one who will swap a 4003 jetglo as thats what i really want.....but i beleve its a lot down to amp as much as anything....i wanna sound like alan davey,ex hawkwind....i can get his early sound....but ill never sound like him as i need to get a 69 bassman and crank it,a great universal amp to buy as well cheap is a laney dp 150...they give u a palet of tone. [/quote] To be honest you need to put a different harness into the 4004 to coil tap the pups to get it to sound like a 4003. I couldn't get a sound I liked out of mine through my MB/BF Compact - it was on the muddy side. I didn't want to invalidate the warranty by modding it so in the end I let it go and got a 4003. This works spot on with My current set up. There's a lot of people that hate the things, I agree on the ergonomics, THAT does take some getting used to but sound wise it's got a flexible sound that works in most situations. No...it can't sound like a Jazz, or a Precision, if that's the sound you want then save a few hundred quid and buy one of those (or a grand and have a Squier Jazz as I did). There's not many BCers that have only one bass, I wouldn't have the Rick as my only bass.....when you need a hammer why try and use a screwdriver?

Regarding the whole graphite neck thing, I think there is a difference depending on whether we're talking fretted or fretless. On the fretless I agree with comments above that it is very intonation sensitive and in my personal experience (on a Jazz swapout for a Status F'less neck) I could hear every click/grind - for my taste the sound was too harsh but it may suit some. On fretted - well my Streamline sounds like a bass, I wouldn't know it was graphite other than by looking at it or toching it - I guess it's because the strings contact the frets not the resin board. The main difference for me is the complete lack of deadspots and that it never needs the rod tweaking.

For the last couple of months I've been using the Rick or Squier Jazz for gigs exclusively. This is mainly because the looks suit the band and (in the case of the Rick) the early 80s theme of the music. However, last night due to needing to take a fretless and a fretted I took the little Status to rehearsal as the car was full to the gunnels with gear and remembered why it was that I bought it in the first place. In short I remembered that the Status was so much easier to play than my 'normal' basses and didn't impede my playing in any way (wheras the Rick can feel like a moose on occasion). Does anyone else find themselves having to play 'second best' because the best (subjective to the individual and YMMV) doesn't look right?