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Retrovibe Aero 2


paul h
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  • 1 month later...

Got my white RV4 Rickenfaker on Monday.

A brief run down before I post more in the white bass thread.

Finish - Paint and binding are excellent. Nice fretwork and tidy inlays. Everything as it should be. Feels very sturdy.

Hardware - MM style bridge and tuners are good quality.

Sound - The two MM style passive pickups have a very healthy output. Nice and thick snarly sound with a trebly rasp. All three combinations are very useable. The real proof is in a band mix which will be next Wednesday.

Stuff that needs attention - The cheapo strings turned my fingertips black. I binned them and have put on an old set of DR black beauties. Tone conrols do nothing much except when rolled off completely. I'll replace these. The nut seems to be cut a little to low. Action needs to come down a bit. It's playable but on the high side even with a tweak on the truss road. I'll take it for a proper set up soon. Fingerboard was very dry. Rubbed a bit of fast fret in. May put some raw linseed on it as I like the smell. Dot markers on the neck are very small and a pale grey. Very hard to see. I'll have to get some kind of stickers. Especially as frets aren't normally where I would expect.

For £249 it's a damn good bass though. For a few quid more it will be excellent. I can see this as an occasional gigging tool.

Plus it looks very cool.

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[quote name='Low End Bee' post='1026733' date='Nov 17 2010, 11:20 AM']Got my white RV4 Rickenfaker on Monday.

A brief run down before I post more in the white bass thread.

Finish - Paint and binding are excellent. Nice fretwork and tidy inlays. Everything as it should be. Feels very sturdy.

Hardware - MM style bridge and tuners are good quality.

Sound - The two MM style passive pickups have a very healthy output. Nice and thick snarly sound with a trebly rasp. All three combinations are very useable. The real proof is in a band mix which will be next Wednesday.

Stuff that needs attention - The cheapo strings turned my fingertips black. I binned them and have put on an old set of DR black beauties. Tone conrols do nothing much except when rolled off completely. I'll replace these. The nut seems to be cut a little to low. Action needs to come down a bit. It's playable but on the high side even with a tweak on the truss road. I'll take it for a proper set up soon. Fingerboard was very dry. Rubbed a bit of fast fret in. May put some raw linseed on it as I like the smell. Dot markers on the neck are very small and a pale grey. Very hard to see. I'll have to get some kind of stickers. Especially as frets aren't normally where I would expect.

For £249 it's a damn good bass though. For a few quid more it will be excellent. I can see this as an occasional gigging tool.

Plus it looks very cool.[/quote]

Damn you - why did I have to read this £ 249 seems an absolute bargain - certainly compared to the £ 200 piece of crap I bought of Ebay last year :)

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Now the bass has settled to a controlled climate I've managed to get the action just how I like it. Weeks on a boat and 5 days in a cold Parcelfarce depot obviously didn't help. I'm taking it to the studio tonight to make some noise.
I forgot to metion weight. I reckon it's about the same as my Precision at a nice 8 1/2 lbs.

Full story and pics to follow in the White Bass Porn thread soon.

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And just like Buses, here's another

[attachment=64451:Mick__s_...hday_022.jpg]
[attachment=64452:Mick__s_...hday_023.jpg]

I'm very impressed with it...pots are a bit dodgy but useable, they'll be replaced. Pick ups are hot, I see no need to muck about with them just yet
Lovely playable neck and the finish is as good as any guitar I've seen. Worth every penny (although it was a surprise birthday pressie off the Missus, bless her)

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I dropped the pick ups too....took it to a gig on Saturday where there were about 30 people..thought Sod it and used it in the final set.

It cut through a treat :)

I'm changing all the screws on mine though, they seem very soft.


I was going to change the TRC and put a silly name on it....but I'm going to keep it as it is. I think the Guitar deserves its identity.

Edited by Talon
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Just wanna jump in here... I received my Retrovibe RV4 last week (I got the white one), and it looks really awesome! On my practice amp at home it sounds really, really good (as you already said, a very high output!) but when I took it to my band rehearsel I was a bit dissapointed. I couldn't get the sound right, it just vanished in the mix. Also it had an annoying high sound with it, maybe because the neck isn't set properly (haven't got any buzz, accept when I play at the neckpickup the strings hit the neck)? Any ideas how that could be?

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[quote name='canaQ' post='1042450' date='Nov 30 2010, 03:18 PM']Just wanna jump in here... I received my Retrovibe RV4 last week (I got the white one), and it looks really awesome! On my practice amp at home it sounds really, really good (as you already said, a very high output!) but when I took it to my band rehearsel I was a bit dissapointed. I couldn't get the sound right, it just vanished in the mix. Also it had an annoying high sound with it, maybe because the neck isn't set properly (haven't got any buzz, accept when I play at the neckpickup the strings hit the neck)? Any ideas how that could be?[/quote]

Mine needed a little tweek on the truss road and some bridge saddle adjustment. Maybe yours needs a bit too?
Vanishing in the mix? Try adding a dollop of treble and use the bridge pickup. Maybe drop the pickups into the body a little to stop it sounding too 'woofy'? Hard to advise you as I'm cutting through fine in my band mix. What other gear are you using?
Not sure what you mean about an annoying high sound? Is it hum? I don't think the control and pickup cavities are shielded particularly well so I'm going to get the old copper tape out soon and change the pots.

Still very, very pleased with this bass. It's got a great rock sound.

Edited by Low End Bee
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[quote name='Low End Bee' post='1042488' date='Nov 30 2010, 04:56 PM']Mine needed a little tweek on the truss road and some bridge saddle adjustment. Maybe yours needs a bit too?
Vanishing in the mix? Try adding a dollop of treble and use the bridge pickup. Maybe drop the pickups into the body a little to stop it sounding too 'woofy'? Hard to advise you as I'm cutting through fine in my band mix. What other gear are you using?
Not sure what you mean about an annoying high sound? Is it hum? I don't think the control and pickup cavities are shielded particularly well so I'm going to get the old copper tape out soon and change the pots.

Still very, very pleased with this bass. It's got a great rock sound.[/quote]
I dropped the pickups into the body, will see if it makes any difference. I can't understand why it vanishes in the mix, my other MusicMan clone (with only a bridge pickup) cuts through real fine (on my Rickenfaker I used the bridge pickup too). Maybe I just couldn't get the settings right on the amp, will try it the next rehearsel again...

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[quote name='canaQ' post='1042509' date='Nov 30 2010, 04:10 PM']I dropped the pickups into the body, will see if it makes any difference. I can't understand why it vanishes in the mix, my other MusicMan clone (with only a bridge pickup) cuts through real fine (on my Rickenfaker I used the bridge pickup too). Maybe I just couldn't get the settings right on the amp, will try it the next rehearsel again...[/quote]

Just tell your guitarist to shut up. He's probably the problem. :)

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[quote name='Low End Bee' post='1042525' date='Nov 30 2010, 05:15 PM']Just tell your guitarist to shut up. He's probably the problem. :)[/quote]
Well, now you mention it... This was the first time I used my Rickenfaker, and also the first time the guitarist used his new overdrive pedal (a Boss Blues Driver 2 (BD2)). I hope that isn't the problem :)

Edited by canaQ
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[quote name='Low End Bee' post='1042525' date='Nov 30 2010, 04:15 PM']Just tell your guitarist to shut up. He's probably the problem. :)[/quote]


+1!

half serious/half joking

One of the bands I play has 3 guitarists. They are ok, they leave enough spaces for eachother, it sounds good. But one of them... I love him, but he feels he is never loud enough and sometimes adds TONS of bass to his sound. That never helps the mix.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've had my white RV4 for just under a month now.
Here's an attempt at a review.

Construction: Great even paint in a very arctic looking white. The black 'binding' is painted on but is flawless. Inlays are neatly done and the medium frets are well finished. The rosewood board is not laquered like a Ric and was a little dry when I got it but that was an easy fix. Tuners and bridge both work very well and are better quality than you may expect for this price. The maple neck is glued very sturdily to the basswood body. Balance is good with no neck dive and weight is a very nice 8 1/2 lbs. The pots and switch are a bit cheap and nasty. I'll swap these soon. The side marker dots are very small and hard to see. I've put some stickers on here until I get used to the bass. Could do with a bit of copper shielding in the cavity.

Playability: The neck is almost the same as my 2007 Precision in feel and string spacing. Because of the Musicman style bridge it's not as narrow at the bridge end as a Ric. It took a couple of weeks for the bass to 'settle' due to the extremes of weather it had been in and is now set up to my preferred 'not too low for aggressive pick playing' height. Just adjusted the rod for a slight relief. No fret buzz anywhere and a very slick, easy player indeed. It's now strung with Brentford FC spec DR Red Devils so it doesn't look too Fulham.

Sounds: Before I plugged it in I looked at the two big generic MM pickups and was thinking about the cost of replacing them. I got a bit of a shock! They both have huge output but they don't sound 'woofy'. A really thick, snarly, growly rock tone. I was blown away. The bridge is my favourite with lots of snarl and harmonics. Both pickups on is smoother and slightly 'hollow' sounding. Neck pickup is a great old school thump but still with plenty of definition. Played through my Orange Terror with TC cabs it has no trouble at all cutting through a rock band mix.

Overall: This doesn't sound much like a Rickenbacker. Then again I didn't really want it to so no complaints there. I love the look of a Ric and this has got that and is far easier and cheaper to replace/upgrade parts if I wanted to. The bonus is it sounds fantastic with what I do. For £249 it's a total winner. Is it better than my much loved Precision? No but it's very, very close and is only just over a quarter of the current retail price of one in the UK.
I bought this with the expectation of it not being much more than something nice to have my picture taken with or maybe to use an occasional backup. It's now going to be a definite part of my gigging and recording armoury. I'm very happy this gamble has paid off.

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  • 1 month later...

Update.

I've just picked the RV4 Rickenfaker up from a service. The E string was rattling a bit behind the fret so I guessed (correctly) that the nut was cut too low on the bass side.
They've put in a tiny ebony wedge under the nut that has sorted this completely. Also done were a truss rod tweak, fret dress, all pots, switches and jack upgraded, copper shielding of the cavity and interestingly the neck tone control changed to a variable coil tap.
It really has completely upped the performance of the bass in every way. I'm chuffed to bits. The action is now fast and low.
There were four Ric's in the shop. Two 4001's and two 4003's and the tech said it blew them all away in playability. He was very impressed with it. Hence him doing lots of extra stuff to it that I didn't ask for at no cost! It still sounds more like a turbo charged precision and nothing like a Ric though which is OK by me.

I'm going to give it another gig outing on Saturday if you want to see/hear it in action [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=118398"]Jetsonics 29th gig[/url]

Edited by Low End Bee
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You're Youtube vid was useful, Low End - some nice patter throughout! :)

I hear what you mean about the volume. It was very loud when you plugged it in, and I'm assuming that was because you had the volume set for the previous bass.

Still GAS'ing for this in Red. That would look simply boss, but I'll need to marshall my resources carefull this year - buy cheap or save for the real thing? Still undecided, but having just paid for the wife's 30th I suspect I'll be done to one or the other.

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