Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

So now I'm a proud Rick owner! I hope to post pictures soon. But I wonder how I can find out the date of the amp. I don't really see any serial numbers, except on the speaker (4651433).

It calls for tubes in this config (handwritten on the chassis):
5V3 (has a GT 5Y3 - does this overdrive sooner?), 6V6, 6V6, 6SC7, 6SC7
All except the 5Y3 are RCA's.

1 volume, 1 tone, 3 inputs.

It has a thin, light brown, leather-like covering, with dark brown leather trim. (How to treat/preserve this?) A dark brown bakelite handle. White plastic knobs. Amber power light.

I think the speaker is blown, as it started buzzing crazily with very low volume output after a couple hours of playing. But the amp sounds good thru a different speaker (surprisingly loud!). I will post pix of the speaker to see if you experts think it's original and worth re-coning.

There is a high-pitched ring when the volume setting is in the middle ranges, and goes away when turned up to around 9 or above. Pressing lightly on the 2nd 6V6 tube alters the whine some.

So, any and all advice on this new acquisition would be most appreciated. I bought it for $250, and while the outside appearance is pretty ragged, I still think I made a decent deal. Yay!

Also, what is the rating on a speaker for this amp. 8 ohms?

Here is the speaker in question.

Original? Worth re-coning?

Some photos of the little bugger. It's definitely seen some use....

Rickenbacker M-11's are surprisingly loud. I've gigged with one for the last 20 years. I use metal 6V6 power tubes. They're very consistent from tube-to-tube, hold up real well and are plentiful. I end up replacing them about once a year. I also use a 5Z4 rectifier. Nice & peaky, they last a good while. Oxford speakers are always worth reconing. Orange County Speaker in Garden Grove, CA does the highest quality work. Best I can tell, the amp is probably from 1954. Some of your coupling caps could be electrically leaky. You might want to have a reliable tech look it over. Note: I don't recommend metal 6V6's for class AB Fender Deluxes. Voltages are way too high.

Thanks for responding. I did get the speaker fixed, and it sounds great now. Yes, I plan on having it looked over by a tech soon. So, is my amp just missing the Rick logo, or did it come this way originally? Don't really see evidence of it having been there, but maybe it was removed long ago....

Alot of Ricks from that era had the logo on the control panel only. In the late forties and early fifties they found other clever ways of revealing their identity such as carving the letters R-I-C-K or a giant 'R' into the grille latice. If you dont find any telltale nail holes anywhere on the top face, it probably came without a logo. Inspect the grille cloth as well for any residue of glue. I have a couple of examples of plastic logos glued to the grille, but they are from a later era than your amp. Anyway, it looks like a nice one. Bet it sounds terrific!

No, you're right, there are no indications that a logo was ever on the front of the amp. Do you know when they started covering the amp in Tolex? In looking at the Rick site, they have old catalogs, but not one that includes my specific amp. There's a hole where the catalogs jump from 1936 to 1953. The amps shown in the '53 catalog look like they have Tolex, so that's why I think mine must be earlier, as its covering is some sort of thin leather(?) material. Anyway, I like it, and yes, it does sound nice. Thanks again.

Yeah, that brown material is sorta like a thin leather product. I wouldn't call the '53 material Tolex™. If you see it up-close, it's more like a grey colored thick wall paper. First evidence I have of them using real Tolex™ is their traditional silver/gray as used on the first B series amplifiers as well as their cases. Genuine brown Tolex™ was used on Electro products and some smaller Rick amps, such as B8 and B14A. The original silver Tolex™ had a blue tint to it. The modern version is plainly silver/grey. Could be a coincidence, but their use of Tolex™ seems to begin about the time they moved to Santa Ana.

Is the 5Z4 a "plug and play" replacement for the 5Y3 rectifier? I love my M-11 (with 6sc7's) but I find it's not loud enough to overpower our light hitting drummer. The M-11 is pretty loud, but when I turn it up past 5/8's it begins to sound like a Marshall, and thats not really the sound I'm going for.
I have a cheap Emminece Legend 12 Alnico speaker in there at the moment. I thought about buying a Celestion Blue, but that would cost more than the amp.

Hi Robert -- Yeah, the 5Z4 is a plug & go, having the same filament requirements and pin-out as a 5Y3. One caution though: Your RMS DC will rise about 15% with very little 'sag' (giving you more clean headroom) but if your filter caps are 'ify' you might end up replacing them. I'd put a meter on the vitals and burn it in for an evening before taking it on-stage. This is universally known as the Tracy Sands Smoke Test. (hey, what's that smell?)

Thanks Tracy, I have no meter so I just popped the 5Z4 in there and played for about 2 hours and it didn't blow up or anything. When I bought this amp (chassis only) I had an amp tech replace any questionable components. Now with the 5Z4 in there, the sag, of which there had been a lot, is greatly reduced.
The original speaker is long gone, what would you recommend as the perfect speaker for this amp?