380L Question

bbobb24 · Post by **bbobb24** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 3:23 am

I recieved my 380L a couple of weeks ago, and after having it set up with slightly heavier strings and all it's a fantastic guitar. My question is, can anyone tell me if these guitars, without the PZ option, are wired for stereo? It has 2 input jacks. I've tried e-mailing RIC and I've tried posting this question on RIC's main site with no luck.

Does anyone know?

jdogric12 · Post by **jdogric12** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 10:40 am

If the jack does NOT say "Rick O Sound" then it is probably dual mono. That means you plug in one cable to get both pickups through one output, or plug in two cables to get each pickup to a different output. Mine is PZ so I don't have the option of splitting the humbuckers. Surely someone more knowledgeable than I will chime in...

bbobb24 · Post by **bbobb24** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 10:59 am

Neither jack is labeled. When I plug into the top jack I get sound from both pickups, and when I plug into the bottom jack I only get sound from one pickup.

I was really hoping that some one here, or from RIC would be able to help me out.

Thanks for the reply Jason

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 12:31 pm

The information you need is on page 3 of the manual, available at http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/manual.pdf:

ken_j · Post by **ken_j** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 1:01 pm

Gary, that explains the "PZ" option. Bob stated "without the PZ option". I went to the RIC website to check out a schematic and could not find one.

Bob, you may have to wait until after the RIC summer break, or take it apart and reverse engineer it.

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 1:18 pm

Oops, missed that part, sorry ... from the description of what happens when the jacks are plugged into, it sounds like the upper jack is Standard and the lower one RIC-O-Sound. I recommend carefully taking the jackplate off (with jacks attached) and seeing whether one of the jacks is mono and the other one is stereo; that should nail it down.

bbobb24 · Post by **bbobb24** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:51 am

I appreciate the responses guys. I did search RIC's website before I posted on that forum a couple weeks ago and found nothing. I would really rather not take anything off, I'm not very inclined to taking things apart to see how they work, because I fear not being able to put them back together. I'm puzzled that I haven't gotten a response from the 2 e-mails that I sent to RIC as much as I am about the guitar...

jdogric12 · Post by **jdogric12** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 4:06 am

It's time for their summer vacation. I bet they get back to you after that.

bbobb24 · Post by **bbobb24** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 4:24 am

I hope so, the e-mails I sent were sent a couple weeks ago, and the post I put on RIC's website was a few weeks ago also.

I did recieve one reply from RIC customer service, but the gentleman that replied spoke as though I was asking about the 380LPZ, and as stated above mine doesn't not have the PZ option.

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 7:30 am

Bob, the operation I detailed involves removing and replacing four small wood screws only, not really a big deal, but I do understand that not everyone is a 'gearhead' type of person.

bbobb24 · Post by **bbobb24** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 9:17 am

Maybe I'll try it Gary, but to me it's like I am with my car, I can drive it and put gas in it, but when it comes to going under the hood I'd much rather not...

firstbassman · Post by **firstbassman** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:58 am

Bob, sorry it has taken so long for me to answer you.
(I've been cut off at work. See my upcoming post in the Firefox thread.)
Anyway, I'm not an expert but here goes.

The jack plates are NOT labeled on the 380L PZ either.
On the "plain" 380L, yes one of the jacks is for stereo. Or as RIC calls them "split" and "combined."
Get a Ric-O-Sound kit or one of the Y-adapters mentioned elsewhere and off you go!
Enjoy.

bbobb24 · Post by **bbobb24** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 2:23 am

Mark, Thank you very much for the info, I really appreciate it!

Once again this forum has helped me out. Thanks all!