Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

John, is it possible that I could get a copy of the wiring diagram for you HB equipped 330?

Bob: yes, I definitely can do something for your 360. No, I don't sell pickups - not yet anyway. You can have a set of my own pickups for free.

Sergio, that's awesome. Lets take it to e-mail and work out some details. I'd like to discuss this with you further. [email protected]

Tony, I have a 1981 2204 Marshall. I brought it to my tech to be checked out and he noticed the first two caps in the pre-amp circuit had been clipped. he replaced them and the amp became a bright, harsh trebley monster! Against his protests, I had him re-clip the two caps. The amp sounds absolutely amazing now! And the tone controls actually work!

A lot of people do that particular mod to de-bright those amps Bob. For some reason the JMP Marshalls aren't quite as bright as the '81 and later JCM800's, even with the same circuit, and they're both a lot brighter than any era of the Plexi/Metal panel 100w Marshalls, and they have a lot more gain too.

Nice setup Anthony! I can see why you might not like the RIC HB's with that setup though. Since you're in the UK, see if you can find an old 60's Selmer Zodiac, and try the RIC stuff with that. Those amps with a Tele Esquire are the sound of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper lead off the Reprise Peppers song, and the regular Peppers song. Probably a similar sound to a RIC through one of those amps.

Right on Gene. My amp has very little gain as Master Volume amps go but, man what an awesome sound once those caps are cut! woohoo!

I play Rock with my 360 too with Highgains. It does pretty good too. But I'd like a just a little bit more output from them like the rest of you want.
I was the same with my Strats for years too until they came out with the Lace Sensors. Maybe Ric will make us some over wounds in the Highgains to match a P90. Now that would be great.

A big part of the power of a P90 is the fact that there are two alnico magnets in there, which give it lots of power. Its not the fact that its alnico, but because it has two strong magnets that give it the power. The Hi-Gain RIC pickup has one medium strength ceramic magnet and thats it. If you added a magnet to the bottom of the current one, or replaced the current one with a stronger cermaic magnet, then the power would go up. I have no idea if it would fit though.

Also, the fact that the coil on the modern high-gain pickup is not wound as close to the polepieces as on the '70s & '80s versions accounts for less than optimum performance. In other words, if you were to (re)wind an '80s high-gainer to modern specs, it would have more output than a modern high-gain.

You guys sure know your stuff! In a way I'm glad I don't know too much about this stuff. Between building guitars, gigging, riding motorcycles and traveling the country, I already have too much to do. All I need is to get real interested in pickups and start tearing all my guitars apart!!!

Hey Sergio, what did they change on the high gains so the coil isn't wound as close to the polepieces as on the earlier ones?

Another thing that changes is the sensitivity of the coil when you move the coil further out. (goes down further out)

Greg, recent high gains, like I recently sent you, are on a toaster bobbin. From past comments made on this forum I believe that the earlier ones had the wire wound directly on to the pole pieces with the top and bottom of the bobbin actually only being end caps. That is why it is not recommended to adjust the poles on earlier pickups.

Ok, that makes sense Ken. I noticed the one you sent me looked like it could easily become a toaster. I like the sound of the early hi-gains better I think. At least for bass anyway.

The one I sent you has the holes for the poles drilled to a 1/4". This put the poles closer to the windings. That thing will growl.

I'm hoping so! I haven't decided yet whether to use it on bass or guitar.

What type of Alnico is used in Rickenbacker pups, the old & new toaster & high gains throughout the years?

I've noticed when searching for a humbucker sized P90 for my Epiphone Sheraton while listening to soundclips on the Gibson website & others that I much prefer Alinco II to Alinco V (although some Strat/Tele pups sound good with these?) so I thought maybe I'd ask the question here?