Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

How much more sustain would a 650C have over a 620 with humbuckers? And how do the RIC humbuckers compare to the Gibbys?

I can't answer Q #1 as I don't own a 620...

I have played Gibbie's for a long time and MUCH prefer the Ric buckers on my 650D. I keep using the word "articulate" to describe them. Never, ever muddy. Clear when clean & man do they growl & snarl when given some gain. I can sound somewhat jangly, pretty & clean, or absolutely cranked with these HBs. They are far quieter than any Gibson HBs I've ever heard too. They will honk like nobody's biz.

Ric describes them as HBs with a "single coil tonality"...that's true but they can still get you the classic cranked HB tone a la Clapton on "Beano" or any Cream album. You can get the heavy blues Led Zep tone for that matter too.

I like 'em better than Gibson HBs because they are SO versatile. CLean to nasty, they will just about do it all.

Thanks for the comparison info.

I had a '87 610 with high gains. It was a nice sounding guitar but I felt that the front pick up was a little muddy. I always would blend in a little of the rear pickup when playing the front. The reason I sold it is that I prefer a wider neck. So I bought the 650C.

Here is what I wrote in an earlier thread:

I thought that the HBs in my 650 sounded kind of muffled with poor definition. What I did was lift (open) one of the volume pot's ground to simulate 500K pots. This really opened the guitar up. If you look at the schematic at the RIC web site you will notice that the volume pots are wired between the selector switch and the output jack. Since the factory pots are 250K in parallel that drops the impedance to 125K, less the pickups and tone pots depending what is selected. As of now this is how I have it. The one pot doesn't do much but I like the sound much better. I will eventually put some 500K pots in but I've been lazy. As we all know sound is very subjective and this is just my opinion. These pickups are whisper quiet.

The RIC HBs don't seem to have as much output as Gibsons or my SD '59s (lower volume), but with today's modern tube amp that is a moot point. To me they sound like a humbucker not a single coil as some have said. The current production HBs have four conductor wiring so you could easily coil tap or parallel wire them. I have not tried this with with the RIC HBs so I can't comment on the sound. I have done it with SDs with good results.

As far as sustain they are probably close due to the same construction other than the bridge/tailpiece.

You can't go wrong with either guitar. It just depends on what you prefer. I'm in the 650 camp. If not then I would go the 660 route. JMHO

I have a 620 with a ric humbucker in the bridge position and a stock high gain at the neck. To a certain extent I agree with Ken, the ric HB muddles the clarity a bit, especially if you are playing a lot of 7ths, suspended 4ths/6ths, ect. I just turned the bass all the way down on my amp and that did the trick just fine.

They are very quiet and if you crank the volume without rolling up the gain they produce their own natural crunch that’s very nice. I generally use the middle position on the pickup selector though, just because I want those 7ths to really ring out. Great pickup in either guitar, just don’t expect it to sound like a quiet single coil, it has it’s own character.