Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Fellow Rickenbackians:

I recently had a pleasant surprise when I plugged my 360/6 with high gains into a Marshall DSL 2000 tube combo. With the drive channel engaged and the gain set about half way, the venerable Rick sixer exhibited some of the tastiest, creamiest, crunch sounds I have heard through this amp. Mind you, I own a couple of Les Pauls...but the Rick was so unique and articulated with plenty of sustain and an open "woody" sound...very cool.

I was wondering if any of you have had similar experiences. What guitar/amp combinations have you tried? How about effects? Also, what is your typical Rickenbacker/amp setup?


--jeff

http://home.attbi.com/~drjeffreyb

Psst... nice web page, but you need to change the model designation of your Dakota guitar to "650" -- not 350!

OOPS! I'm having trouble bonding to my new 650...it's no wonder I inadvertently misdesignated it as a 350. Must be something in my subconscious.

By the way, this 650 Dakota sounds really good through my 73 Fender Vibro Champ, but like I've mentioned before, I am really having a tough time finding its personality. Any suggestions?

--jeff

(I fixed my web page faux paux)

http://home.attbi.com/~drjeffreyb

Jeffrey,

What are some of your musical influences and styles you like to play most? A good friend of mine found that he liked the 650 for his pretty fast paced blues/folk lead fingerstyle. I think the 650 series would work well for you if you were into a sort of experimental lead guitar way, ala Andy Summers in The Police.

I love experimenting with my 360 and find it to be very versatile, but again, the main reason to have it is for that classic Ric jangle that I like as a rhythm player.

Still, give it time - those 650's look like they'd be great players - maybe just not in your "workhorse" sense like a Fender Strat or Ric 360 or 330.

Jeffrey -- What did you pay for the 650? Just curious, since you indicated it was a great find!

Hello Jeffrey. These days I play mostly through a Fender Deluxe Reverb that I bought about a year and a half ago, soon after I got my first Ricky, a '99 360/6 FG. Before that, I'd been playing a '69 Gibson Les Paul Custom through a Fender Twin Reverb since about 1970. That old Fender Twin just got to be too heavy to lug around. (Although I did set it up outside on the front porch on New Years eve and played a chorus of Auld Lang Syne with the Rick and the amp vol. on about 8. It was fun!)

My favourite combination is my Model 350 played through a Fender Twin Reverb. Perhaps one day I will have the good fortune to play it through a Vox AC-30.

I'm yet another that uses a Deluxe Reverb (73) most of the time. My other amp is a Vox Pathfinder.

I use a Vox Cambridge Reverb 30.... It's got a great sound, but not what I'd recommend for home recording - maybe a Line 6 for that.

My 650 sounds great through my Cage 18/30 amp. Then again, so do my other guitars...

http://www.audiocage.com

Cool amp, Andrew. How does it compare with an AC-30 tonewise? What kind of EL 84s do you use?

--jeff

J. Phelps inquired about my ebay 650 Dakota find. I mentioned this somewhere else, but it's kind of a funny story that I'll bet some of you can relate to. I saw the 650-D on ebay one night after my wife an I had been out to our local Mexican restaurant. I had a couple of giant margaritas and was truly enjoying the thought of adding another Rick to my collection. Someone had bid $550 on the Dakota and I though to myself, "I wonder what his reserve is; I'll bet it's $625 or $650. So I bid $600 fully expecting to see "reserve not met." My $600 bid stuck for about five days and I "won" the guitar. The funny thing is that I was totally prepared to let the guitar go if someone were to outbid me...even by only a couple of bucks.

I poked around on the web and found that the 650-D typically sells new for around $700-$800, so I figured that I was getting a good deal.The guitar arrived a few days later in the orignal factory box with the shroud still on the guitar and all the trimmings...perfect. Shipping was only $17.

I was lukewarm to the 650-D at first, but I'm learning to like it. It definitely has its own voice and the wide neck is not an issue. I need to spend an afternoon exploring the possibilites through a bunch of different amps and effects. Corey had some good suggestions. Thanks.

Finally, one thing that I really like about this guitar is that it really travels well. I took it to California in a Summit Guitar Backpack on the plane and it is extremely easy to maneuver...fits great in the overhead and you don't have to worry about scratching up the finish or breaking its neck...and it sounds absolutely FABULOUS through a Pignose classic amp (you know, the one with the 4" speaker and the cool nose knob!).

Sorry for the long winded response. I'm a professor and I write and talk all day long, so I can whip out a couple of pages in no time.

Adios.

--jeff

My 480 sounds terrific through my blackfaced '74 Fender Super Reverb. It also rips through a Lectrosonics Maxi Mouse. I too have been contemplating a 650 series; since burgandy is the 2002 color maybe I'll get a companion for my burgandy 480.

I have a quad of EI EL84 tubes in my amp.

The model I have is only a 1x12" combo, so I'm not pushing as much air as a 2x12" AC-30. Stock, the amp comes with 5751 preamp tubes. Although one can install 12ax7/ECC83 tubes (as found in an AC-30), I haven't experimented with using such tubes. The 5751 tubes have a slightly lower amplification factor, which I believe contributes to the "smoothness" of tone. Overall, there is a VOX-vibe to it; but a bit smoother sounding, in my opinion. And it's very responsive to playing dynamics, too.