Rickenbacker Basso 4003 Jetglo Nero

The Rickenbacker 4003 is one of the most iconic versions of the 4-string solid-body electric bass. The neck-through body construction, maple body, maple and walnut neck, and rosewood fingerboard contribute to great sustain, a responsive, compact, and richly present response, with that mix of punch and roundness that has made the 4003 an absolute reference for those seeking a bass with a strong character yet always visible in the mix.

Alongside the classic appeal of the Jet Glo finish, neck binding, and triangular fret inlays, the modern 4003 introduces very concrete design solutions. One of the most important is the V2 bridge with string retainer: unlike previous versions, the string tension does not directly impact the tailpiece, but is managed by the retainer, a solution that helps prevent the notorious lifting and warping of the bridge/tailpiece associated with previous-generation Rickenbackers. Added to this are more precise height, intonation, and string centering adjustments, as well as a built-in, mechanically selectable damper/mute.

Operationally, the 4003 offers two high-gain pickups, two volume controls, two tone controls, and a three-position pickup selector. The treble/bridge pickup's tone control features a push-pull potentiometer with a Vintage Tone Selector function: in the modern configuration, the bridge pickup's output leg works with the standard .047 µF tone capacitor, offering the 4003's fuller, more balanced voice; removing the push-pull capacitor reintroduces the vintage .0047 µF capacitor into the circuit, resulting in a brighter, drier response that's closer to the historic 4001.

Among the most distinctive features of the standard 4003 is its output system. The standard mono jack combines the signal from the two pickups in the instrument's normal mono operation, with control entrusted to the volume, tone, and three-way selector. The Rick-O-Sound stereo output, on the other hand, must be used with a stereo TRS jack connected to a Y-cable, or with an amplifier equipped with a dedicated stereo input, to separate the bass/neck pickup and the treble/bridge pickup onto two separate channels. This way, for example, you can send the bridge pickup to a head or a channel with distorted sounds and the neck pickup to a head or a clean channel, obtaining a wider, more three-dimensional, and controllable result. The two jacks cannot be used simultaneously, because the internal routing is switched by the contacts of the jacks themselves and the system is designed to work with only one output active at a time.