Ric-O-Sound and noise.......

gothbin · Post by **gothbin** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 11:03 am

I've been reading thru some old threads, and have to admit that my DIY Y-Cable can give noise, if not both pickups are full on. Is there anything special in a ROS cable/box assembly? Maybe one of you ever opened up a ROS thing to see what's inside - in the way of a de-earthing transformer/isolater or some other stuff, or is it just the build quality?

If so, is it better to use a sort of electronic-DIY alubox to make the split connections in, and some kind of one-on-one transformer in one signal path? Or did I just went crazy, and need to forget about the excistence of ROS and just play (mono)bass........LOL

Well, as statet in other threads, I love tweaking (can you really say tweaking?) sounds and FX's and try all options in bass recording. One of the reasens I (can) do this, is because I lost my job, so have some time left and because I own a Homestudio in the form of a (yes, I know it's digital!!! LOL) Roland 2480CD, some Lexicon and DBX stuff and a bunch of microphones. I also have a degree of soundengineering from the SAE Amsterdam, but you can never spend enough time playing around to find good sounds and mixes.

Oh, and please don't tell me to remove my ROS from my 4003..........just joking Jeff LOL

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 11:23 am

I won't say a thing ...

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 1:39 pm

I opened one and it was just a splitter but for some reason they are much quieter than y cables, even if the stereo part of the cord is long and the two monos are short, doesn't make sense but it works. Must be the build quality. No transformers.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 1:40 pm

Hey don't feel bad Jeff at least you're not one of the Ampeg crowd, or are you?

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 3:59 pm

I own 3 ampegs ... 6 Rics ... and many other things ... does that make me one of the ampeg crowd?

If that box is quieter it may be due to sheilding ...

mortivan · Post by **mortivan** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 4:46 pm

If I remember correctly, Mr. Hall also indicated it used a low capacitance cable.

gothbin · Post by **gothbin** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 6:26 am

Well Jeff and Bob, don't make me feel guilty please. I won't buy the two of you a new Rickenbacker for Xmas to stop the tears....

Furthermore: I never seen an original splitter assembly (proberly, 'cause we don't see much of Rickenbacker stuff overhere in The Netherlands) - so is it a separate box and three cables? Or is it a all in one thing? Has anybody a photo of this gizmo? Or am I just plain stupid? Well anyway I'm Dutch......LOL, and I don't walk on wooden shoes, grow tulips and eat cheese all day!!! And no, although almost legalized, I don't grow and smoke weed........yeeeks!!!

THNXS so far for all the info guys!!!

ojobob2 · Post by **ojobob2** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 7:17 am

I borrowed a Ric O Sound Box recently - its not noisy at all.

The Box itself is metal, and the attached stereo lead looks very well insulated , particularly at the plug end. Inside is nothing more than two jacks, but i put both amps near each other and there was not really anymore noise than usual.

lets face it, Ricks are quiet noisy anyway!

On another note has anyone with a black hardwared bass (Jeff) noticed that they generate more noise than normal chrome hardwared basses? My white 91 does and theres no loose grounds

ricosound · Post by **ricosound** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 8:06 am

I have never looked under the bridge or lead pickup surround on a bass with black hardware. If the metal parts are painted or powder coated where the ground wire connects to the bridge for instance, the bass is going to be very noisy especially with Ric hi-gain single coils. Ensure that you have a good ground connection by measuring between the stings and the jack plate with an ohm meter. If you measure any resistance...noise. Although Rics use shielded leads, the control and pickup cavities are not. That's why humbuckers were invented, single coils are inherently noisy.