I’m having the worst time trying to choose between the Black and the Cherry Burst.

Thank you so much! Finally a good quality video, and a decent look into the bass. Much appreciated, definitely sold the motor haha

Raising the bridge pickup will help with the volume difference. Love your videos btw! I'm considering one of these basses now. Thanks for the demo!

One of the best videos describing features and pros/cons of this instrument.

Great vid man! Awesome quality and b-roll! Subbed :)

I bought one. Why not? Cheapest bass I own, but I do so love playing it. I suppose that the electronics could do with an upgrade, but why bother? I removed the saddle too, took out the single coil pickup springs, just put some washers in to get the pickup as high as possible, and the volume between the bridge and neck are now almost the same. I angled the neck pickup to be higher on the low E side, and that has greatly improved the response from that string. I hadn't noticed the 3/4s being loudest thing - I will check the next time I have it running through a proper amp. Dear readers, please don't buy one, they're currently out of stock and I want a Cherry Burst one as soon as they are back in :).

Man! I didn't realize this was you first video and that it was only a year ago. Your channel kicks ass 👊🏽😎 this was one of the first videos I watched ofv yours. Had to come back and watch it again after you mentioned it in your shopping Q&A 🥳

Thank you for your post. I am (professional) drummer who just sometimes likes to torture a bass. MY favourite bass sound is the Rickenbacker-sound a la Chris Squire/Geddy Lee, but a) for my poor doodling an "original" Rick is way too expensive and b) Geddy has HIS sound even when he plays a Jazz Bass.... nearly the same goes for Chris, no matter what bass he actually plays. Both guys have/had their own sound and it's not dependent from the brand of bass they play. It's just kinda "personal" sound! There is so much VOODOO in the marketing of instruments: YOU HAVE TO BUY SUCH'N'SUCH BASS/GUITAR/DRUMS TO GET MR/MRS FAVORITE'S SOUND! That's pure marketing nonsense. There is only two small things one needs to sound like your favorite musician: BEING! your favorite musician AND having his/her sound engineer. The brand of YOUR instrument is as important as the food you prefer!!! (I am very sure you know that regular digesting cauliflower will enhance your virtuosity in no time LOL) Just spend some minutes to think about this: NO instrument-company make it's money with famous players, they make their money with UNKNOWN players (from weekend-warriors up to no-name professionals). Beside the VOODOO of marketing there is only ONE major difference between "Brand" manufacturers and f.e Chinese manufacturers: the quality control. (Which is neither given by "American" products nor "Foreign/Chinese" products - both are known for poor quality-control, but Americans tend to have the better marketing while Asian manufactors/competitors offer a comparable - from bad to good - quality). Have you ever spend some time to think about why, CIJ (crafted in Japan) FENDER instruments are higher regarded than "Made in USA" instruments? My advice: get the best-made instrument you can afford, give a f*ckin sh*t about the name/brand, and try to get YOUR sound; NO-ONE in your audience cares what BRAND of instrument you're playing. They're only there to enjoy the music and have a good time! Don't fall into the traps of advertisements; just listen and judge to your ears!

You should release some more videos, this is such a good review

On my bass I changed the nut to brass now it rocks awesome video rock on

killer video! You have a great tone and feel with the bass, I wanna snag me one of these basses!

I just love the rickenbackers everything but damn some parts are so impractical

wow... That neck pickup sounds like a beast! Nice test!

Really have an urge to play some bass lately. No idea what really doing on any instrument but love to knock out noises with them. As basses go it's only the Rickenbacker styling that gets me excited. And this might scratch that itch for a sum I can actually justify ;) thanks for the balanced and well put together video. Would be interested in seeing a video of mods ;)

what a great review, so completed because i already buy this bass and it is awesome for me anticipate all i am going to see, great.

Appreciate the detailed video!

Thx for this great review! I've been looking at this bass for some time now. Did you make any changes to the bridge pickup since your video?

Wonderful review video!! Really informative. I love to listen Ricks - Paul, Chris, Roger, Geddy to name a few greats. John Taylor plays a black one in Duran Duran's planet earth MV iirc. But I have a Jazz and a P/J p-bass and very content. So this Bass is very enticing! I live in California and wonder how much the shipping (from Germany?).

I think this is the 5th review video for this particular bass I have watched and I'm finding myself closer and closer to pulling the trigger. It seems like a great deal with great quality for the price for a practice/beat em up bass to take anywhere. I'm actually somewhat impressed with it's look and sound from the review videos. I'm partial to the black one over the sunburst as well. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Great review! What’s the neck profile like?

Great channel Jonny. I keep looking at this review and others online and I'm really tempted as it appears great for the money. Was it a keeper for you in the end? I have a nice Fender Japanese Jazz from 1994 and a Mexican Fender FSR 70s Precision. Just fancy the Ricky Style HB as don't have the bucks for the real deal. Do you still rate it?

Ordered one in August and it shipped yesterday.Hope it is worth the wait.

useful caveats about the electronics, re: microphonic pickups and the dodgy wiring. That can be fixed, but it's very useful to know going in!

A beautiful bass especially for the low price.I switched out the pups to Nordenblocker Ric replacements and threw in a Tone Monster preamp.This thing's a beast for under 500 bucks total.It sounded good before but now I can't say enough.

Great first video!

Great review, I've been looking at this bass for a while but I'll need to move on some other gear first and lockdown is preventing that from happening. Having said that I see that someone local to me is looking to trade one!

well played! Can I count on the appearance of this bass in the following videos?

Thanks for the review. This is on my GAS shopping list (along with a Harley Benton RB-612BK, same shape, 12-string). I wouldn't expect to spend £170 on a guitar without doing some work and mods. How about some new pups for £100? Alternatively, spend 10 times more on a Rick 4003 - only joking. ;) I used to own a Rick 330/6 - they're not as good as the price suggests.

Awesome video!

Nice review mate. I’m not a bass player, but learning (I’m a guitarist, specialising in the ‘shit-can’ style of music), but I’m going to buy one of these as a) I’d like a cheap bass just to mess around with and b) I love Rickenbackers but can’t afford a 4001, so this is the best option. Cheers mate

Great video! What brand are the strings on it? do they use daddarios for stock strings?

thank you for posting a review ive been waiting on a review like this to order one do you think itd be a good mod project

Both volumes work on mine until one is turned all the way down, then all of the volume goes down. It is really not uncommon for two pickup passive pickups to get more volume when one of the volumes is backed off a little. Bottom line for me is that it is a really cool looking and sounding $200 bass so judge it accordingly.

Wow great tone!!!

En definitiva es una bajo que vale la pena checar! Y además tiene un muy buen look

I want to start playing bass and I love Motörhead. Would you recommend this as a first bass to me? Or should I get a different one?

fun to see that te knobs are working exactly like this on my rick copy, and mine is a r4003 by azbywsl (french brand taht died years ago).

Awesome video. Thanks 👍🏻

I would want to switch out the bridge pickup for something like a stacked J bass pickup to make the output levels closer. Personally I tend to view instruments in this price category as modding platforms rather than finished instruments since there is usually something that can be improved relatively easily. The microphonic neck pickup could possibly be fixed by melting some candle wax around the coils.

Hi Jonny , looking to purchase a bass that'll give me a lovely low sub sound (reminiscent of the bass in With Or Without You). Is this bass capable of producing such a sound, if not could you suggest an alternative? Thanks very much for the review by the way, don't know if its the bass itself or the review I keep going back to rewatch !

The neck pickup, picking up tapping on the pickguard... Cheapo pickups are famous for being microphonic. Upgrade the pickups, would probably help immensely.

BASS player here, boomin strings ? re-set the pickups height ;)

Need to review the Harley Benton MB4 SnideRay 😎

I own the Jackenbacker and I saw that Harley Benton also has one. I may purchase this one also \m/

hello what is the action of bridge? can i setup the action low without problems due bad neck-body angle? thanks

Keep going ❤

Yeah I saw this too, and finally thought I may be able get a Bass, then go to checkout and then WTF! the shipping was more than the Bass, to Australia, guess I will have to just settle for a locally Yamaha if and when they have stock back in, and getting a Left Handed one for the Wife even more issues they are like Hens Teeth, hard to find anyone stocking Basses for Lefthanded 😎🤟🙄😒 Also just looked again the Harley Benton RB-414BK Classic Series, Now there No Longer Available 😒🤷‍♂️

Great Video 😁

Also, the drop in sound, along with the drop of string volume might be because of the magnet being loose, and the the neck pickup seems to be microphonic, but I'm no expert, just some input to anybody else thinking of buying one of these bad boys

Sound good Jonny

I think I've discovered that problem with tapping near the neck pickup. Im pretty sure at thomann it says that this is a chambered bass so there is probably a cavity where you were tapping.

With regards to the quality control from factory...yeah it's pretty bad. I just got the RB414 (Cherry Sunburst) about a week ago. It shipped from Germany to the middle of the US in 3 days, which was awesome. But it had problems out of the box. First, one of the string action adjustment screws on the bridge was missing entirely, then one of the large mounting screws for the bridge has stripped threads and doesn't lock down. On top of this, NO setup was done to the bass. The neck was badly bowed and the string action was way too high. I can adjust this stuff fine once I get the replacement screws. I talked to customer service and they're supposed to be shipping me the screws, but it's been like a week so far. The bass got here in 3 days, the screws are gonna take much longer. But the tone of this bass is knarly and I LOVE it. Definitely happy with my purchase, despite the quality control. Also...for anyone wanting this bass....REMOVE the damn metal pickup cover. It will get in your way and bruise your hand...lol.

Made me LOL! "When you see it, and can't stop thinking about it for a week?" Yes!!!! I know this feeling all too well!! :)

The controls problem seems, either cooked pots, incorrect wiring or as another prev poster stated, incomplete circuit!

Cool gye..cool Bass and Music..😎👌🤘

Got the same issue with bridge cover. How did you remove it ? Just loosening the screws on either side ? Would appreciate a short description 🙏🏽 Thanks for the great video

I think it sounds better than an actual ric!

I can understand why Rickenbacker police the copyrights of Ric knockoffs so strictly but the new Epsilon Rics at £500+ look as good as these!

I'm in need of a new bass, and I'm a massive stoner metal fan, so obviously Al Cisneros of Sleep/Om plays a Rick and, well, I have pretty bad GAS right now :p

could you do a reviw about their hollow body bass?

They possibly used a tone pot for the volume pot.

Does anyone know why some of the sunburst models have f-holes and some don't? I'm assuming they redesigned it or something, but I can't find any info on it

It seems to be the consensus from the reviews I've seen that the wiring harness is the big problem. That can be remedied here (920dcustom.com/products/920d-custom-shop-wiring-harness-for-rickenbacker-4000-series-bass-guitar) As a long time Ric player, but whose Ric is pretty much toast, I'm getting one of these when they come back in stock and will likely do a couple of mods to make it sing.

So in your opinion do you prefer the HB over say a chinabacker? They seem to be popular right now

how did you get off the pickup cover? i’m not entirely sure how to get mine off.

Around 2:25 - that horrid rumbling when picking the E on a fret near the nut is a real red flag on this demo.

Hello. Great video. I want to know if the bass is heavy? And, also, when standing, is the headstock heavy which in turn I'd have to use my left hand to balance the bass?

British Patrick Hunter. I much prefer your accent.

The neck pickup isn't potted which causes it to be microphonic. Easy fix just ask if the local luthier could wax pot it.

So as a Chris Squire fanatic (rest his soul), this bass immediately appealed to me. However, I don't see anything about stereo output, which is kind of what makes the Ric a Ric, ya know? Am I missing that in the description, or is it just a normal mono-out and I've got some modding ahead of me if I buy it?

Once I have some money, I plan to buy an RB-414. I might change the pickups, though. Does anybody know what pickups might fit in this bass without any routing?

The wiring seems just fine. You have to use the selector switch to solo either p'up. Not turn the volume all the way down on the other pickup. It don't work like a traditional jazz bass. But so I fail to see any source of confusion.

What did you ended up doing with this beauty? Did you kept it? Sold it?

Buy it for the looks. Re-wire is for the sound. Done.

This video is old, so I hope you see this, and my question has nothing to do with the bass, so I hope you answer. I NEED to know what drum kit you have loaded. It is literally perfect. I use Cubase and groove agent and cannot for the life of me find or even build a kit I like from the included samples. I’m shopping around for a bass and come across this video and there’s the exact drum sound I’m looking for. Please please please help.

It’s like a pj bass But in a rickenbacker format

dam that sounds bad ass

Does anyone know if the parts to this bass would fit an actual Rickenbacker 4001 body?

sounds great for 200$

What's the song you're playing at 2:25?

How does the neck feel! Thin? Chunky?

I like the style better than the real one 🤭

For me any bass thats cheap enough to sound kinda similar to a Rickenbacker ise enough :')

How can i get that sound??

Maybe I have funny tastes, but myself, I prefer the look of Rick basses over P-Basses.

Bass guitars are like Harry Potters Wand, they find you.....related to your comment of lots of basses but some don't inspire....Aria do that with me, classic or new, likewise Ibanez.

I want it but im broke

off topic. but this bassist is mad cute

4:47

. Sounds better (and more versatile) than the "one trick pony" Rickenbacker. ...but is it as unreliable as the over-hyped Rick?

It's a no from me. My Jazz bass gives me all I need 👍

Why on Earth would anyone get the black one of these when the cherry sunburst is available? I understand that people have terrible, bland tastes in bass finishes, but come on.

Thats a microphonic pickup

Hi, is it "made in china"? Thanks

Can’t believe I’m telling the bass player to, “TURN IT UP”

Now just wire it for rick-o-sound

I wanted one of these until I seen a couple of reviews,this bass guitar has the looks but nothing like the sound of a Rickenbacker.I'll pass.

I refuse to trust to harley benton lol

10 times cheaper and definitely not 10 times worse

what a little money with Harley Benton basses at home. Again and again, everytime in your room or at your mother's house. Go work and stop with this InShot stuff. Harley Benton it's never the same as a Fender Bass. Never.