Ibanez SR500E vs Rickenbacker 4003S

The price point is remarkable when you look at the craftsmanship of these basses, you really get more than you paid for so to speak.

The tradeoff is that the body is highly resonant and the other strings are prone to sympathetic vibration as a result which I find difficult to control when playing with a pick. Removing the aforementioned treble pickup cover should make that more manageable. tl;dr I'm satisfied with my purchase but I would recommend trying to play at least one Rickenbacker bass in a store before buying one anywhere to see if they're a good fit for you, because they won't be a good fit for everyone.

So Heath, the SR basses are notoriously fantastic throughout the whole range, aren't they? Very, very popular models. A lot of bass for not too bad a ...

Hey, welcome to the channel. My name is Alan Samms and today we're going to take a look at this beautiful Rickenbacker 4003 S bass guitar Rickenbacker...

Or at least no longer a great deal. 4-5 years ago back when they were US$275 new they were steals, but now that they're $430 plus tax and shipping, they're no longer this amazing moneyball solution, they're at best a decent bass at a fair price. In my opinion if you've got $500 to spend on a bass I'd get a used Mexican Fender or Ibanez SR500, that's where the real value is at that price point.

The shop wanted $1749 for this matte-black 4003s and wouldn't move much on the price, so I passed. I asked sweetwater if they'd sell me a new one for $1699, and they said yes, but I'd have to wait a few months for a Mapleglo.

On the plus side, it's comfortable, nice to play, good quality for the price. The preamp offers many possibilities once you've figured out the controls, and it also has a passive mode. The pickups work well in both mode, and they have 4 wires so if you know how to solder you can add switches to get more sound options.

The neck was unwieldly, the body shape felt horrible to play with it's sharp binding (perhaps the 4003S would not have the same issue), the bridge design made it feel horrible to play there, the bridge pickup cover really got in the way too, and after removing it you're left with a large cavity unless you buy an aftermarket fill in part. It didn't sound great in a mix, the double truss rod design was both unnecessary and made it a nightmare to setup. Although not an issue on the one I owned I've seen two other Rick basses where the fretboard was ungluing itself from the neck. I agree with other commentors that Rickenbacker seem to not have any desire to improve as they have a waitlist of people willing to pay full price for them

the main reason to get a SR500 is I believe those are the cheapest Ibanez that have those sweet bartolini pickups. I have a 500 and it's great, I think if you get a used one in good condition and give it a proper setup it will make you very happy

It's got just your regular Rickenbacker single coil pickups. It has just standard bridge, the pickup cover, same tuners, but this one's got kind of a ...