Will I ever be able to order a 4003 with an active tone control option? Have you ever thought of this as an option? This may be a departure from your tried and true formula, but imagine the possibilities.

Experimentation leads to innovation. I think this would only enhance the brand and bring it to another level.

Thoughts?

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I don't think there's a need for it. These days anybody can install a preamp with relative ease. I installed an Audere 3ZB in my 4003 and left it there for a few months. Ultimately I missed the original sound. If you ever want to have the "active tone" a preamp offers, you are better off using this:

http://www.creationaudiolabs.com/redeemer-beltpack

That will buffer your sound exactly the same way and the cable length is so short as to be insignificant as far as affecting your tone. It has no EQ features, but you could build a belt pack that included them, or if you're like me and find onboard EQ completely useless, you won't miss it anyway. Also, I can't tell you how many times I've been playing Precision Basses at a music store and gotten so turned off by the tone of the active "Deluxe" versions. The passives always sound better to me.

Will RIC ever offer this option? I doubt it, probably not for a good long while. John Hall doesn't seem like he'd ever be up for it. Frankly I'd rather they focused on other options to possibly offer, like a 5-string, because as I said before installing a preamp is not difficult at all.

On the 4003? Probably not much chance at all. While it's been improved in small, but helpful ways over the years, it very much seems to be intended to be a more "vintage-y" instrument. Lots of the market for the 4003 might not regard an active preamp as an improvement to the passive volume and tone pots it's always had. I certainly wouldn't.

I'd say that the chances would still be slim, but perhaps not nonexistent, on the 4004, since it was designed to be a more "modern" bass to start with, what with the humbuckers, different bridge, and contoured sides. If Rickenbacker ever puts an active preamp in one of their basses, I definitely would guess that it'd be the 4004 before the 4003.

Either that, or they'd make a new model entirely. 4006? Probably wouldn't happen soon, either.

That said, Ric5 has added Audere preamps to his basses, including 4004's. Not sure about 4003's.

I actually have a prototype PC board preamp circuit that will retrofit a 4003 . . . that was done back in the late 80's. It's pretty cool, parametric and all.

But no, I doubt you'll see anything like this as an option.

This is good Mr. Hall. You said "doubt" but not no.

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A beautiful woman needs no advertising. She needs only to be seen.

I did fit a low impedance FET pre-amp to my 4001 in the 70's. Because this type of pre-amp presents a very high impedance to the pickups, it exaggerated rather than toned down the traditional 4001 sound. The only problem as I remember was that the control cavity in a 4001 is too shallow to take a 9v battery, and I didn't want to route the body, hence I ended up with an external battery attached to the side of the bass with velcro.

There are a number of outboard preamps in pedal form, that would give you the active sounds plus the original ones in bypass.

http://www.sadowsky.com/accessories/preamp.html

http://www.aguilaramp.com/products_prea ... hammer.htm

http://www.xotic.us/effects/base_rc/

http://ews-us.com/item_triLogic2.php