Hello from Vancouver! New (to me) 360/12C63

moleng1 · Post by **moleng1** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 4:05 pm

Hello to the forum, I've been lurking and doing home work here in hopes of learning enough to make an informed decision on which Rickenbacker I wanted to purchase.

After much searching and research I finally decided on a 360, but really liked the 330 body style, then I stumbled upon the 360/12C63 and I was sold!! Two months later, a mint 2009 shows up on my local CL and boom!! I'm the proud new owner of a fireglo model.

Being a Tele guy, this piece of art is taking some getting used to, but oh that sound!!!

I guess flat wounds and a jangle box are next??

moleng1 · Post by **moleng1** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 4:50 pm

I would add pictures, but this site, for some reason, won't even let me upload photobucket HTML or IMG thumbnails which are only supposed to be 120 x 160 pixels (way below the 800 x 800 limit????)

Ah ha!!!

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 6:38 pm

Welcome, Dave, and congrats on your acquisition!

As far as pictures, I just post them (as JPEGs) in the post, I don't use links or thumbnails. Did you read the FAQ section, "Can I post images?"??

moleng1 · Post by **moleng1** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 6:56 pm

Thanks, I didn't even know there was an FAQ section............

Folkie · Post by **Folkie** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 10:33 pm

Welcome to the forum and to the C63 club! The first thing I did when I got my new 360/12C63 late last year was to take it to the best tech in the city and have him straighten out the neck, remove the cap, and restring it with TI Flats. Now I plug it directly into the Top Boost channel of my Vox AC15 and jangle away.

I would highly recommend that you get yourself a copy of the Hal Leonard tab transcription of The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" album, as the vast majority of the songs were recorded with George Harrison's electric 12.

No need for a JangleBox to nail George's tone. The Vox AC15 creates a lot of natural compression and chime, particularly when you replace the stock Greenback with an Alnico Blue speaker. (I reserve my JangleBox for Roger McGuinn tones.)

The 360/12C63 looks lovely and sounds quite unlike any other Ric. I hope you get as much pleasure out of yours as I have mine!

moleng1 · Post by **moleng1** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 2:07 am

Folkie wrote:Welcome to the forum and to the C63 club! The first thing I did when I got my new 360/12C63 late last year was to take it to the best tech in the city and have him straighten out the neck, remove the cap, and restring it with TI Flats. Now I plug it directly into the Top Boost channel of my Vox AC15 and jangle away.

I would highly recommend that you get yourself a copy of the Hal Leonard tab transcription of The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" album, as the vast majority of the songs were recorded with George Harrison's electric 12.

No need for a JangleBox to nail George's tone. The Vox AC15 creates a lot of natural compression and chime, particularly when you replace the stock Greenback with an Alnico Blue speaker. (I reserve my JangleBox for Roger McGuinn tones.)

The 360/12C63 looks lovely and sounds quite unlike any other Ric. I hope you get as much pleasure out of yours as I have mine!

Thanks for the advice!! I am playing mine through a Hughes & Ketner tubemeister 18, but I may have to look at trading, as all seem to think the Vox AC15 or 30 is the way to go with these Rickys?

8mileshigher · Post by **8mileshigher** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 3:46 am

Welcome aboard the RRF, Dave !
That 360-12 C63 has a very nice FireGlo color with dark edge. Looks to be in excellent condition.

Re choice of amps, (Vox or otherwise) -- there are lots of threads here on the RRF about recommendations of amps... use the Search function (bottom of page, center) and enter a brand of amp or "favorite amp" and read away .

jps · Post by **jps** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 9:37 am

moleng1 wrote:I am playing mine through a Hughes & Ketner tubemeister 18, but I may have to look at trading, as all seem to think the Vox AC15 or 30 is the way to go with these Rickys?

Why? If the H&K sounds good to you then it is, no reason to buy a VOX just because someone else thinks they are the way to go. Are you getting the sounds you want from the H&K?

moleng1 · Post by **moleng1** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 5:24 pm

jps wrote:
moleng1 wrote:I am playing mine through a Hughes & Ketner tubemeister 18, but I may have to look at trading, as all seem to think the Vox AC15 or 30 is the way to go with these Rickys?
Why? If the H&K sounds good to you then it is, no reason to buy a VOX just because someone else thinks they are the way to go. Are you getting the sounds you want from the H&K?

The HK sounds great with my Strat and Tele, but so does my Epiphone stereo amp. The HK is to modern sounding with the Ric, if I were to stay with an HK I'd probably look at a Statesman, besides, I've always jonesed after a Vox of some sort, so what better excuse!!! Lol

jps · Post by **jps** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 5:30 pm

That sounds [pun intended] like a plan. Try some of the Fender tube amps, also, like The Deluxe Reverb or Blues Jr. They make Rick s sound great, too.

Here is the Fender amp I use for my '67 330.

moleng1 · Post by **moleng1** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 5:51 pm

jps wrote:That sounds [pun intended] like a plan. Try some of the Fender tube amps, also, like The Deluxe Reverb or Blues Jr. They make Rick s sound great, too.

Here is the Fender amp I use for my '67 330.

Since I'll be at the music store anyway, I'll take a few for a test drive!! I've never been impressed with the Blues Jr, probably just me?? Also really like the Vox AC4TV hand wired, might look at that as well!!

moleng1 · Post by **moleng1** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 1:37 am

Soooooo............ Visit to the local music store today, tried out a few Fender amps, a Hughes & Kettner Statesman, a Vox AC4TV hand wired, AC30, and the Vox AC15C1

Bottom line?? The Vox AC15C1 in limited edition purple tolex w/ cream trim and grill cloth followed me home!!!

What a sweet sound with the C63!! Thanks all for your input, appreciated.

Pics to follow........

Folkie · Post by **Folkie** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 11:10 am

A sweet sound, indeed! I fell in love with the AC15C1 when I was auditioning amps for my two Ric 12-strings. It turned out I ordered the amp from North Coast Music, where they replaced the stock Celestion Greenback speaker with a real Alnico Blue.

As I said, I have no need for a compressor with that amp: it's a natural jangle machine. The only downside is that the Vox reverb is several steps below the Fender. But I never use that much reverb, so I haven't opted to run a reverb pedal into the amp.

moleng1 · Post by **moleng1** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 11:48 am

Folkie wrote:A sweet sound, indeed! I fell in love with the AC15C1 when I was auditioning amps for my two Ric 12-strings. It turned out I ordered the amp from North Coast Music, where they replaced the stock Celestion Greenback speaker with a real Alnico Blue.

As I said, I have no need for a compressor with that amp: it's a natural jangle machine. The only downside is that the Vox reverb is several steps below the Fender. But I never use that much reverb, so I haven't opted to run a reverb pedal into the amp.

Agreed on your views of the Vox reverb, but I'm not a huge reverb user, and I thought the sound of the Vox far surpassed the two Fenders (65 Princeton and a Blues Deluxe Reissue)

The Hughes & Kettner Statesman was a very nice amp! Crystal clear clean channel, the C63 sounded awesome through it in store, but at 60 (very loud) watts it was totally impractical for home use, I don't think I could have turned it past 1 without the neighbors complaining!!

And I actually liked the AC15 over the AC30, which is a good thing on both my wallet and my back (my god!! What a beast the AC30 is!!)

The purple and cream color was just icing on the cake!!

Do the speakers on these amps really make a difference?? The AC15 has their stock Celestion G12M Greenback, they also had a limited edition cream colored AC15 that had a Celestion G12M-65 Creamback speaker?? I really couldn't see a difference between the two, but maybe my ears were just blown by that point after all the test driving in two hours!!

J1854Me · Post by **J1854Me** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:04 am

Welcome to the wonderful world of the C63!

I got mine a few years ago, and I use a little Vox practice amp or else the big mother Fender Twin Reverb.

I;m also in Vancouver, and did end up getting a 12-saddle bridge for the C63, and had it installed and set up by Eiichi Ishikawa in south Vancouver (just off of Granville).

Have fun with it!

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