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Joe Barden Engineering Introduces Ric 4001/4003 Bass Pickups

The R4000 Styple pickups are designed to be quiet, powerful and responsive—and expand the tonal palate of the bass.

Manassas, VA (March 28, 2011) -- At the behest of a persistent Rickenbacker bassist, JBE built a set of bass pickups for his Ric 4003 that needed to be dead quiet, have greater power, be highly responsive, expand the tonal palate of the bass and also retain the classic Ric bass tone. The result was the R4000 Style bass pickup from Joe Barden Engineering.


The trial customer was so excited with the transformation of his Ric 4003 that he set out to let fellow Ric bass players know how his new pickups transformed his bass. “Before the proverbial ink was even dry on our R&D documents, he posted on several bass forums and even submitted pictures of his rig to a leading bass magazine. The response from Ric players was so surprising and immediate that we quickly built a small pre-production run to satisfy early adopters,” said Frank T., President of JBE.

As with all JBE pickups, no modifications to the instrument are required for installation. And, JBE R4000 pickups allow reuse of the Rickenbacker chrome pickup surrounds and hardware to retain the Ric look and vibe.

“The R4000 Style bass pickups fit Rickenbacker 4001 and 4003 basses and give Ric players what they demand from their cherished Ric basses…noise-free operation and an expanded tonal palate that make an already exceptional bass, even more exceptional. They are a great addition to our line of high-performance bass pickups for J-Bass, P-Bass and similarly styled instruments,” said Frank T.

List Price: $349.95 per set.

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Joe Barden