Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi

I'm just wondering if anyone else has noticed this with the mono vs stereo output on their Rickenbackers - it's not a 'problem' that I'm looking for a solution to or anything, it's just a curious thing I'm interested to discuss.

I can't say I ever noticed it on my 4001 (but that's a bass, so I'm not too concerned with treble frequencies!), but I was playing around with the rick-o-sound output on my 620 the other day and seemed to notice that the output from there is a bit brighter and clearer than the standard mono output - very very slight, I know I'm splitting hairs here! but it seems as though the tone is a little brighter with the controls maxed and that a bit more top end clarity and 'chime' is retained when backing off the volume. So the guitar just seems to 'jangle' a bit more in stereo.

This is a difference I'm noticing from just switching a mono jack between the two outputs, into the same rig, without any change to settings - push the mono jack in all the way to connect the tip so the bridge pickup gives sound, pull it out halfway to connect the ring so the neck pickup gives sound - each pickup sounds just a little cleaner and 'crisper' in that configuration, than it does from the mono output. obviously I can't activate both pickups at the same time to see how that affects it, because I'm only connecting one pickup at a time this way.

Anyways my guess as to why it might be a little brighter is either 1) I have an overactive imagination, which I know is possible, or 2) when you're using the mono output all of the control pots equally load down the signal that goes to the mono socket, but the stereo socket isolates the loading from the control pots to the respective outputs so you only have 2 330k pots loading each output (ignoring the 5th knob, for now), as opposed to all 4 loading a single output.

And then this has got me wondering - is there a way I can use this 'advantageously' while still running a single rig, by using a stereo jack from the rick-o-sound output and summing both outputs to mono before reaching the amp or my pedals? Or would that totally negate it and be exactly the same as using the mono output, therefore, a total waste of time and energy to try to get a tiny amount more top end clarity that I didn't really need in the first place?

Your guess is totally correct. The Ric-O-Sound output separates the 2 pickups and so has only the loading of the tone & volume controls from a single pickup instead of 2. There's also some loading due to having 2 pickups there as well.

The idea of combining them external to the guitar will only work if you're going into 2 separate preamps or some sort of high impedance mixer circuit. Connecting the 2 pickups together with just a cable will do pretty much the same thing as what happens in the mono jack itself...

Interesting! Makes sense.

cjj wrote: ↑Mon Feb 12, 2024 5:11 pm Your guess is totally correct. The Ric-O-Sound output separates the 2 pickups and so has only the loading of the tone & volume controls from a single pickup instead of 2. There's also some loading due to having 2 pickups there as well.

The idea of combining them external to the guitar will only work if you're going into 2 separate preamps or some sort of high impedance mixer circuit. Connecting the 2 pickups together with just a cable will do pretty much the same thing as what happens in the mono jack itself...

Judging from that then, it's probably not really worth it to try to sum the 2 rick-o-sound outputs together for just a tiny little bit of extra treble and volume (when the guitar is hardly lacking in either). Sounds like i'd probably need some kind of active circuit to to actually benefit from it, at which point it would essentially just be doing the same thing that can be achieved by using a good quality buffer anyway

Yeah, it's really meant for running to 2 different amps. I use it, with each pickup going to its own SansAmp RPM. I can then adjust those to get the sound I want for each before combining the signals in a mixer.

cjj wrote: ↑Tue Feb 20, 2024 11:39 pm Yeah, it's really meant for running to 2 different amps. I use it, with each pickup going to its own SansAmp RPM. I can then adjust those to get the sound I want for each before combining the signals in a mixer.

I can see the benefit of that in relation to having more individual control over the tone shaping of each pickup individually. I guess with vintage style multi-channel amps that have separate inputs per channel it could be interesting to route each pickup through a different channel on the amp, provided this doesn't introduce any ground loops or anything.

(That Pedal Show recently did a video about the stereo gibson ES-345 wiring which works in much the same way, perhaps that might be worth re-watching for inspiration/encouragement too!)

Years ago, when I gigged for a short period, I had an Acoustic 320 which had 2 channels (A or B, or A&B) each with their own tone stack. I figure that'd be suited to Rick-O-Sound. Alas I didn't have a Rick then, and now I don't have the amp. Maybe it'll turn up someday.

Cheers,