Vintage tone mod Q

Setup, repair and restoration of Rickenbacker Instruments

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parker_knoll
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Posts: 196
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2010 7:09 pm

Re: Vintage tone mod Q

Post by parker_knoll »

i ordered the caps and a couple of different pots (500k and 1meg - i have a few 250k around) so i'll fiddle around and post an update.

Incidentally, G&L have some good schematics up in the 'support' section on their site: http://www.glguitars.com/schematics/index2.asp
parker_knoll
Junior Member
Posts: 196
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2010 7:09 pm

Re: Vintage tone mod Q

Post by parker_knoll »

Just an update so i installed a couple of different setups and tested them.

I used the basic tone pot wiring as used by G&L (http://www.glguitars.com/schematics/Leg ... rawing.pdf), and tried a few different Caps.

1 MEG POT
TONE CONTROL FOLLOWS VOLUME CONTROL (as per G&L schematic drawing)
0.0047 CAP - almost no discernible effect. Possibly a very slight 'tightening' of the bass.
0.0047 CAP + 1 MEG RESISTOR - no discernible difference to me except a slight loss of volume.
0.0033 CAP - also not really much discernible effect. i might try it again later just to make sure.
0.001 CAP - much more identifiable thinning of the sound. I was aiming for the same effect as Reverend's bass contour pot and i would say this is it. No resistors used, just a straightforward cap across the pot. I'll do a video at some point. There is, obviously, a perceived loss in gain, but the advantage with the pot is you can dial in just a percentage which is why i prefer the smaller cap and more dramatic effect.

Why did i do this?

Well, I never used the existing tone controls at all since they just turned the pickups to mud, so i thought i'd see if i can get some use out of the pots. Also, I have three different pickups on my Ric. I use the middle toaster to get a thin biting sound and i thought i'd see if i can accentuate that even more.
parker_knoll
Junior Member
Posts: 196
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2010 7:09 pm

Re: Vintage tone mod Q

Post by parker_knoll »

i'll just add to say this works very well for funk sounds, esp. Strat-style in between tones, something i couldn't really do on my Ric before
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winston
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Re: Vintage tone mod Q

Post by winston »

Toby,

Links to other forums are prohibited by our rules. I have edited your post accordingly.
“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” - Albert Einstein

"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother" - Albert Einstein
parker_knoll
Junior Member
Posts: 196
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2010 7:09 pm

Re: Vintage tone mod Q

Post by parker_knoll »

hopefully the rest of info will someday be useful to someone :)
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