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Re: Hi-Gain changes
Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 8:08 pm
by deaconblues
I used this:
http://www.guitarfetish.com/Mini-Birds- ... p_486.html
From GFS. It's got ceramic magnets. As long as you can get the coil unsoldered from the metal housing, installing it in a Rickenbacker enclosure is fairly easy.
My current pots are 500k with a .22 cap. Thinking I might go to a 1 meg.
Re: Hi-Gain changes
Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 5:32 am
by Dom
A HiGain at the bridge is magic. You can get so much bite and growl out of them. A great slide pickup. That alone is worth the price of the guitar. I find them very warm and at times overpowering at the neck when driven but that is why the blend is your friend. They do raw but also clean up nicely, which is prompting me to get going on that master volume mod...
Re: Hi-Gain changes
Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 12:27 am
by Rickissippi
kennyhowes wrote:It continues to baffle me when Rickenbacker's standard pickup, the Hi-Gain, is referred to as the "new" one - or the inherent snobbery when it comes to these ("I read on a forum you should immediately swap those out for toasters blah blah blah").
New?!? They were phased in starting in the late '60s! I guess these same folks never liked The Jam, The Smithereens, or R.E.M. either.
Agreed. And I'm with Ellen that not all Rick-owners and Rick-lovers regularly play jangle music (although I do love it). I play mine through a couple of low-wattage amps in small clubs on weekends, and it's every thing from beautifully expressive to mean as hell.
If JH really wanted to change that opinion on Hi-gains, all he would have to do is discontinue them.
Re: Hi-Gain changes
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:19 pm
by MrSpaceman
Hey all!
I purchased my first Ric earlier this year (a 2008 340/12) and I'm loving the hi-gain sound, either clean or through the JangleBox (I have the silver version).
So I was reading the Ted Breaux article on vintage pickups and he talks about placing a .47mF capacitor between the treble pickup and the volume pot to obtain 'more chime' from your guitar, as it was done in the 50s.
However, the official schematic on the Rickenbacker website (
http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/19512.pdf) already displays two .47 capacitors, one for each pot in the 340s and other models.
I know that article is 15 years old, so did Rickenbacker make that change later, after everyone seemed to be doing this mod? Just out of curiosity.
Cheers everyone!
Re: Hi-Gain changes
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:31 pm
by jps
Look here, Rodrigo, this will show the .0047µF cap that is/was inline with the bridge pickup.
http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/19511.pdf
Re: Hi-Gain changes
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:32 pm
by kennyhowes
MrSpaceman wrote:Hey all!
I purchased my first Ric earlier this year (a 2008 340/12) and I'm loving the hi-gain sound, either clean or through the JangleBox (I have the silver version).
So I was reading the Ted Breaux article on vintage pickups and he talks about placing a .47mF capacitor between the treble pickup and the volume pot to obtain 'more chime' from your guitar, as it was done in the 50s.
However, the official schematic on the Rickenbacker website (
http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdfs/19512.pdf) already displays two .47 capacitors, one for each pot in the 340s and other models.
I know that article is 15 years old, so did Rickenbacker make that change later, after everyone seemed to be doing this mod? Just out of curiosity.
Cheers everyone!
The tone pots each have a .047 μf cap.
The one that was on many Ricks up until the mid '80s (and is now a push-pull option on the 4003) is the .0047 μf.
Re: Hi-Gain changes
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:44 pm
by MrSpaceman
Thanks for the clarification guys!
As you have noticed I'm a player with no little to none electronics expertise...
So have any of you done this to a modern guitar? Is it a noticeable difference?
As I said, I'm not exactly looking for a different sound right now, but since it's a fairly simple modification I might try it sometime in the future. And from what I understand this was the standard for toaster pickups. Not sure how much of a difference it would make with hi-gains.
Re: Hi-Gain changes
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 4:40 pm
by johnallg
Since the .0047uF is in series with the bridge pickup, it will block lower frequencies and only pass higher frequencies, thus giving a more trebly/chimey sound. It will work with higains.
Here is how it is done in the 4003 bass. It would be the same wiring for your 340-12. You would need the one pot replaced with a pot/switch:
http://boutique.rickenbacker.com/POTENT ... p_666.html
Re: Hi-Gain changes
Posted: Mon Feb 24, 2025 9:40 am
by Blomp
I hope it's kosher to bump old threads around here.
I'm curious if anyone knows roughly at what point in time the DC of the hi-gains started to get more consistent in reading around 10-12kohms? Is it as simple as "if it has plastic bobbins it will have a very consistent DC resistance in both positions" and "if it has black fiberboard bobbins the DC resistance is gonna be pretty random with a trend toward the neck pickup measuring at almost double the resistance of the bridge unit"?
Reason I ask is I've potentially got a chance to check out a '95 360, which has plastic bobbin hi-gains - should I be expecting something similar to what I already know from my '98, '02 and '08 rics with both pickups on all guitars reading very close to 10.5kohms and everything being very well balanced... or something a bit less predictable and a bit more extreme, such as potentially a much thinner clangier bridge pickup and a kinda dark and bloated neck pickup?
Re: Hi-Gain changes
Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2025 10:34 pm
by Korladis
Blomp wrote: Mon Feb 24, 2025 9:40 am
I hope it's kosher to bump old threads around here.
I'm curious if anyone knows roughly at what point in time the DC of the hi-gains started to get more consistent in reading around 10-12kohms? Is it as simple as "if it has plastic bobbins it will have a very consistent DC resistance in both positions" and "if it has black fiberboard bobbins the DC resistance is gonna be pretty random with a trend toward the neck pickup measuring at almost double the resistance of the bridge unit"?
Reason I ask is I've potentially got a chance to check out a '95 360, which has plastic bobbin hi-gains - should I be expecting something similar to what I already know from my '98, '02 and '08 rics with both pickups on all guitars reading very close to 10.5kohms and everything being very well balanced... or something a bit less predictable and a bit more extreme, such as potentially a much thinner clangier bridge pickup and a kinda dark and bloated neck pickup?
I've never heard of neck high gains measuring twice the resistance of the bridge ones before. In my experience usually the bridge is significantly more powerful.
Re: Hi-Gain changes
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2025 1:47 pm
by Blomp
Korladis wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2025 10:34 pm
I've never heard of neck high gains measuring twice the resistance of the bridge ones before. In my experience usually the bridge is significantly more powerful.
Interesting - I wrongly remembered seeing this being discussed in this thread. It must've been a different thread elsewhere, but whenever I've seen anyone give any DC measurements of their 80s/early 90s fiberboard hi-gains the reading has almost always been around 7-10k on the bridge and 15-20k on the neck.
Re: Hi-Gain changes
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2025 3:58 pm
by jps
Blomp wrote: Sat Mar 01, 2025 1:47 pm
Korladis wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2025 10:34 pm
I've never heard of neck high gains measuring twice the resistance of the bridge ones before. In my experience usually the bridge is significantly more powerful.
Interesting - I wrongly remembered seeing this being discussed in this thread. It must've been a different thread elsewhere, but whenever I've seen anyone give any DC measurements of their 80s/early 90s fiberboard hi-gains the reading has almost always been around 7-10k on the bridge and 15-20k on the neck.
That sounds way out of line or a typo or something. The only Rick pickups I can think of that are that high are HB-1s at 15K (the coils wired in series).
Re: Hi-Gain changes
Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2025 9:28 am
by ric480
My '81 480 button high gains measured 5860 bridge 13100 neck.
My '04 650D humbuckers were 12,830 bridge 12,860 neck.
Re: Hi-Gain changes
Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2025 6:45 pm
by Korladis
Blomp wrote: Sat Mar 01, 2025 1:47 pm
Korladis wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2025 10:34 pm
I've never heard of neck high gains measuring twice the resistance of the bridge ones before. In my experience usually the bridge is significantly more powerful.
Interesting - I wrongly remembered seeing this being discussed in this thread. It must've been a different thread elsewhere, but whenever I've seen anyone give any DC measurements of their 80s/early 90s fiberboard hi-gains the reading has almost always been around 7-10k on the bridge and 15-20k on the neck.
Maybe it's different bass vs. guitar? I know on the bass version, the bridge pickup has a larger magnet
Re: Hi-Gain changes
Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2025 8:14 pm
by jps
Korladis wrote: Sun Mar 02, 2025 6:45 pm
Blomp wrote: Sat Mar 01, 2025 1:47 pm
Korladis wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2025 10:34 pm
I've never heard of neck high gains measuring twice the resistance of the bridge ones before. In my experience usually the bridge is significantly more powerful.
Interesting - I wrongly remembered seeing this being discussed in this thread. It must've been a different thread elsewhere, but whenever I've seen anyone give any DC measurements of their 80s/early 90s fiberboard hi-gains the reading has almost always been around 7-10k on the bridge and 15-20k on the neck.
Maybe it's different bass vs. guitar? I know on the bass version, the bridge pickup has a larger magnet
The magnet size bears no relation to the DCR which is primarily a measure of the winding on the bobbin.
I am really surprised at how high that winding it.