Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Seoigh.....Other forum member responses have done a commendable and comprehensive job of comparing/contrasting Hi-Gains and Toasters®. The other part of the overall equation that hasn't been discussed is the amplifier. I'm probably stating the obvious, or preaching to the choir, but the amp has much to do with bringing out the sonic, tonal, and resonant characteristics of both Hi-Gains and Toasters®. Each of us also has a different auditory threshold. When all is said and done, when all of the specs are considered, and when the A/B'ing is completed, it really does come down to how it all sounds to your ears. It's sort of like scoring stereo equipment. Buying strictly on specs doesn't always achieve efficacy.....or that which sounds best to your ears. Man, one thing is certain. This sure is an interesting journey of discovery. I'm constantly learning something new. Bottom line? Everything is copacetic.

Play on, pick often, and prosper. Best regards.....Goofyfoot

I think that the 12k toasters will satisfy you the most. You'll have a vintage look and a modern sound.

Bradley, I can't believe you used a reference to the closet classic "Vanishing Girl" here. When I started to read your sentence about Dave Gregory and his assessment of the 325 tone, I thought to myself. "Oh yeah? Then why does the intro to 'Vanishing Girl' sound so great?" Then I read the rest of the sentence.

Since there are tons of similar threads here and on the official forum, I am curious if there is a thread with sound examples, i.e. the same thing played with the different kinds of pickups (but same model guitar).

Does anyone know of any links?

I have some frequency chart examples.

This is from a SPICE model of a device I am designing to get a more toaster like sound from higains. The model includes the 360-12 guitar circuitry.

My device won't be an exact duplicate because the magnetic feilds are not the same in the two pickups. It's what I call convolution filtering. However I will soon be able to measure it.

So this lumped parameter model shows MOST of the difference, but not all.
Note the higain has a much lower self resonance at nearly half the frequency of the toaster. big difference.

You may wonder what the other two curves are. The dotted line (raw) is the unloaded response (no guitar cord or amp) and the "flat" is a new setting I developed for the device that extends the response past 12 kHz and removes any peak. The higain usually tanks above 5kHz.

However, I like the higains for many things. Now I hope to get most of the toaster sound by flipping a switchrather than grabbing screwdriver and soldering iron.

An earlier version of this device works pretty well. I'm making it just for my own use really...just for fun.

Here it is:

Les,

Please give us some sound samples if you can...

Have you been able to measure 2007 hi-gains with adjustable poles?

Thanks,

Les, that's really interesting work. Will the schematic for the device be available open-source, or is this device something you're thinking of marketing, and hence would prefer to keep under wraps for now?