The wonderfull world of Ric-O-Sound!!!!!

hieronymous · Post by **hieronymous** » Thu May 04, 2006 12:58 pm

I've said it before and I'll say it again - are Ric-O-Sound users really willing to lose the tonal qualities that both pickups together can offer? You can only get the sound of the neck pup in one amp and the bridge pup in the other. To me it really makes more sense to split the signal with an A/B/both box. That way you still have the tonal options of bridge/both/neck.

The "stereo" thing was discussed a while ago. It's not stereo in the sense of the stereo field, but basically more like two channels. It came up at the Alembic forum too RE: the "stereo" F2-B preamp. Are we going to split hairs over whether a mere two channel setup is "really stereo" or just accept the nomenclature. I seem to remember that there were proponents of both viewpoints.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Thu May 04, 2006 2:52 pm

It is real stereo, it has two separate and distinct channels from beginning to end which is what stereo is.
It doesn't matter which pickup goes to what side, it is not like a stereo receiver, you do what you want with it. And it does sound good if you take the time at every gig to set it up properly, it is too much of a pain to deal with for me so I play mono. I also used to run stereo with one SVT head except I put the neck into the 2nd channel and the neck into the main channel, which then made it mono as there was only one output. It was a sound producing aid for me.

incubus2432 · Post by **incubus2432** » Thu May 04, 2006 3:31 pm

I, like Harry, prefer to split the signal further in the signal chain. When I feel motivated enough I just split the signal after my SVP-Pro. One path goes straight to channel one of my power amp (500x2) that feeds two Mesa 1x15's and the other goes to my Tube Works Blue Tube preamp that I use as an overdrive channel to feed a single Mesa 2x10. The tone is great.....lots of clear lows with a nice overdriven top end. It is also the better solution for me since I only have one wireless unit.

My only issue with the setup is that it is a pain to keep the right balance when tweaking during a gig. It is usually easier to just run a single signal......the stock Ric-O-Sound has always seemed like a silly idea to me. I really see no practical advantage to splitting the individual p/u's.

kcole4001 · Post by **kcole4001** » Thu May 04, 2006 3:52 pm

I considered getting ahold of another amp the same as the one I'm using & using one amp & the 4X10 for the neck & the other amp & the 2X10 plus effects for the bridge pup, but got the plug pulled on the idea when the loving wife said "enough is enough"! I've gone WAY over my yearly spending limit.

I figured that since I use both cabs now, it wouldn't be much more hassle to carry along another amp, & would ease the load on the first amp. The soundguy would have to mix the volume of the two channels, so it would be a pain for him.
It just seems like a lot of extra work, but it's nice to have the option.

Perhaps it would work out better to run the neck pup dry into one channel of the amp & run the bridge pup with effects to the other channel, but I don't have independent control of the channel volumes & one is set for passive pups & the other is padded for active or hot passive pups (Ricks definitely fall into the latter category).

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Thu May 04, 2006 4:54 pm

I think a mono signal splitter makes much more sense than ric-o-sound ... I like what Geddy does ... he splits into 3 channels ... One regular, one with distortion and treble, and one with extra bass ... the sound man then mixes the signals into the pa ...

Ric 4001/4003 basses have several anachronistic features ... the mechanical mute, the pickup cover, the bass cut capacitor, and the ric-o-sound ...

sabbath_of_bass · Post by **sabbath_of_bass** » Thu May 04, 2006 4:58 pm

What does the Ric-O-sound box do? I just have a stereo split cable.

cerrem · Post by **cerrem** » Thu May 04, 2006 5:19 pm

One thing good about the using the STEREO jack regardless of what you plug it into.. You WILL get a stronger signal from each pickup... The reason is that when in mono both volume controls are in parallel, when selecting and using one pup.. Both 250K pots are in parallel and load a single pup down quite a bit... Most Ric pots I measure are like 170K to 190K ohms...I even ordered NEW pots from Ric and went through 9 of them and the highest values I cam across were 225K....
So when using the stereo jack then each pup has it's own volume pot... And please don't reply with a response like the pots in parallel don't have any sound difference compared with one pot per pup

Chris

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Thu May 04, 2006 6:16 pm

You get a less compressed clearer sound as a result.

j_gary · Post by **j_gary** » Fri May 05, 2006 5:49 am

Man, if you fellas don't stop making me feel like Fred Flintstone, I'm taking up the drums!

Great stuff! I've been flying these babies since 1970, and realize that I'm a Rick idiot when I hang around here.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Fri May 05, 2006 5:53 am

you can get a $5 adapter from Radio Shack that does the same thing as the ric-o-sound adapter ...

My 4003 is wired with 2 mono outputs ... to me this is a much more useful feature ...

woodsgirl · Post by **woodsgirl** » Fri May 05, 2006 7:50 am

Ditto that, J Gary! I either need a translation or better yet, maybe someone could post a basic through advanced electronics tutorial! ( I am a plug and play gal, but I can learn!) I just figured out that toasters are called toasters cause they LOOK like toasters! Google rocks! I was going to buy one of these ric-o-sound jobs, but now I am confused as to whether I should..........maybe I should get one and figure it out later.........

sabbath_of_bass · Post by **sabbath_of_bass** » Fri May 05, 2006 8:30 am

So basically a stereo cable (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/General/Accessories/Cables?sku=333030 kinda like this?)can do the same thing as the ric-o-sound box?
I have a cable like that and run my treble pickup to one amp and my bass to another.

And wouldnt this (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/General/Accessories/Cables?sku=336281)
Work like 2 mono jacks?

incubus2432 · Post by **incubus2432** » Fri May 05, 2006 9:00 am

Jacob....yes a cable like the one in your 1st link does the same thing as the Ric-O-Sound box.

The cable in the 2nd link used in the Ric-O-Sound jack would give the signal of only one p/u (I forget which) to two seperate inputs. In the standard jack you'd split the same signal (determined by the toggle) to two separate inputs. It would work like two mono jacks.

sabbath_of_bass · Post by **sabbath_of_bass** » Fri May 05, 2006 9:07 am

Yeah thats what I ment by the second one. Cause of what Jeff said.

sabbath_of_bass · Post by **sabbath_of_bass** » Fri May 05, 2006 10:40 am

Jeff how does Geddy run 3 channels? With one thats both. Cause that sounds awesome.

I know if i have a stereo pluged in and the mono jack... it just cuts all my sound all together. could I kinda cut out whatever makes it go one way or the other and have stereo line going out and the mono going out at the same time?
Kinda like you fixed 2 monos... only I want to use stereo and mono at once...
Just wondering.