Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Now I am racking my brains over an amplifier for my (soon to be) new Ric 12 string....

I have a vintage (70's) Fender Champ.... and also some Leslies and such (mostly a keyboard player).

Vox? Fender? AC15 or Ac30? Deluxe Reverb? If so, New "reissue" or vintage? ....too many options. There are a lot of opinions out here...

You will get one more opinion than there are members here.

So for mine:

Fender Princeton Reverb Amp, the older the better. You might want to put a 12" speaker in it, my early '70s PRA has a Celestion G12M-70 that sounds great.

jps wrote:... Fender Princeton Reverb Amp, the older the better....

Interesting! I think that is the first mention of the Princeton I've seen here...a classic old Fender....

One of the very nice things about the Princeton (reverb or not) is the output tube bias modulated tremolo. I used to have a '66 BandMaster head, with the later, grounded output opto tremolo, the one in the PR is smoother without the choppy, clicky sound of the later design tremolo.

harry wrote:Now I am racking my brains over an amplifier for my (soon to be) new Ric 12 string....

I have a vintage (70's) Fender Champ.... and also some Leslies and such (mostly a keyboard player).

Vox? Fender? AC15 or Ac30? Deluxe Reverb? If so, New "reissue" or vintage? ....too many options. There are a lot of opinions out here...

Vox AC-30 vs. AC-15: How much can you lift?
Vintage vs. Reissue: How fat is your bank account?

One last thought: If you can swing it, how about one of each, a Vox and a Fender then you can get superjangle by plugging in using the Ric-O-Sound output.

I use a Vox AC-15 and a MusicMan RD-110 Fifty, sort of a poor man's Princeton Reverb. I rather like that combination. They're both easy to lift.
JimK

Another thought... a vintage, early 80s Roland JC120. You can get them on CL/ebay for 4-500 bucks, they are super clean with true stereo(separate 60 watt amp for each 12" speaker). They have been used by such 12 string stalwarts as Roger McGuinn and Johnny Marr.

egosheep wrote:Another thought... a vintage, early 80s Roland JC120. You can get them on CL/ebay for 4-500 bucks, they are super clean with true stereo(separate 60 watt amp for each 12" speaker). They have been used by such 12 string stalwarts as Roger McGuinn and Johnny Marr.

You forgot that most stalwarty of them all, our very own Aitch!

jps wrote:

egosheep wrote:Another thought... a vintage, early 80s Roland JC120. You can get them on CL/ebay for 4-500 bucks, they are super clean with true stereo(separate 60 watt amp for each 12" speaker). They have been used by such 12 string stalwarts as Roger McGuinn and Johnny Marr.

You forgot that most stalwarty of them all, our very own Aitch!

I had no idea Aitch used Roland products. I'm scandalized!!!

Here's what we all used back in the '60s:
It seemed to get the point across . . .

I used to work at a company owned by Roland and could have got those amps CHEEP! But no longer....they laid me off a couple years ago and I went back to school.

Anyway, as far as amps to use...pretty much anything with a good clean sound with get you that 12 string jangle. Most Fenders and Voxes fit the bill, and smaller ones are better for portability and cost. If you have the dough, get a handwired AC15...killer amps and loud enough to gig with. If you just need something small for around the hous eplaying, a Princeton is a great choice.

Greg

soundmasterg wrote:If you just need something small for around the hous eplaying, a Princeton is a great choice.

Greg

I think my Princeton Reverb is loud enough to gig with, depending on the venue.

libratune wrote:Here's what we all used back in the '60s:

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It seemed to get the point across . . .

That's what I still use...but mostly for Fenders. The Ricks get mostly VOX.

BTW, how do you turn one of these things on? Does it need to be plugged into something? I heard they sound good...

I recommend a current-era Kustom '36 Coupe, either the 1-12" or 2-10" version.
These use 6L6 power tubes and an Accutronics reverb tank so they sound a lot like a vintage Fender. If you need tremolo (vibrato) or higher power, you can go with the '72 Coupe, which is available as a separate head.

Or get a good Silverface Fender ...

My vote is for a Vox AC30VR They are only $499.00 and they provide that classic Vox tone.

When I first got my Ric 370/12, I played it through an eight yr old Peavey Envoy 110 (75w, single 12" Celestian clone). While it was a pretty good amp for small gigs or practice, and my Strat sang when it was cranked, both my Gretsch and the Ric sounded thin no matter what I did. So I looked around and learned that Mr McGuinn had used Roland JC120s for many years, and even found an endorsement of the Roland JC120 on his home page. But the 120 is a beast. Heavy, large, and unless you're playing Carnegie Hall, somewhat impractical in my version of the Real World. However, there are options, so I started scouting around..

Yesterday, I found a used, early-nineties JC-77 and brought it home on approval..... Suffice to say- I approve. It will stay here.

Lighter than the JC120 by nearly 20 pounds, a chorus to die for (Ignore the distortion and use a pedal), and as near as I can discover, the same circuitry as the 120. And it carries my Gretsch nicely, too. Nice reverb and clear as a bell up to at least 7.5 on the scale (too loud to try anything higher indoors)

Used ones can be had reasonably.... they get my recommendation.