Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

my old amp died (an early '80 Peavey VTX Classic...hybrid with 6L6 power out) and had an excuse
to get a AC30...so went with the one with the blues

Anyway...i play mostly Beatles and Byrds stuff (Ric 360/12), but i find the ac30 breaks up early ...looks
like i have to keep the preamp _very_ low and turn up the master to keep a clean sound...i think i
read somewhere keeping the "Output Bias" switch to "hot", and "Smoothing" switch to "44uf Modern"
will help ...i'll have to check these settings...

Certainly early Beatles stuff sounds clean at
a decent volume (or is it from hot micing ?)
...i use a JangleBox ...but makes no diff on the
cleaness of sound whether it's in or out
...can i achieve the super clean Byrd sound with
an AC30 ? ...i read somewhere about changing
preamp tubes for a cleaner sound ? prefer if
i dont have to though... amp setup suggestions ?

..thanks

To get a setup like the original and Korg-made in england AC30's, you should turn the master all the way up and adjust volume with the volume control. The originals and the Korgs made in England don't have a master volume like the CC's do, and are running flat out in that area of the circuit, so you can simulate it by running the master all the way up and adjusting your volume with the regular volume control. Doing it this way you shouldn't get any overdrive until the amp is about a quarter to half of the way up on the volume, depending on the guitar and effects used. I'm not familiar with the rest of the settings on the new CC's as I haven't seen them yet, but setting the master all the way all the time up would be the biggest thing to do to get a larger clean headroom window. The only problem with this and the reason they put in the master is that when you use it this way, it tends to be a loud amp, too loud and clean for most at a reasonable volume. I love my Korg-made in England AC30 and use it all the time. I get the best cleans when the amp is barely on though.

Also, the Bryds stuff was done using Fender amps and most of the Beatles stuff that used the RIC 12 string would have been the Vox AC100, which is cleaner, and much louder than the AC30, but moreaggressive at the same time. That would be even more unuseable though in a gig situation than the AC30 without a master volume sometimes is.

Thanks Greg ! ....will try that tonight

Gordon: To my way of thinking, one of the characteristics that makes the Celestion Blues(still manufactured in England) is the fact that they break up early. Two 15 watt speakers in series are going to break up earlier than two 30 watt speakers in series for example. This lets the Blues sing.

Peter thanks ...but what is defined as "early" ?
...the only way i can get a clean sound is if i just nudge the
pre-amp volume up from 0... at ~1 - 2 position,
no matter the master vol setting, i'm
getting metallica when i just want Beatles
....and this with just a standard Ric pup ...thanks

Gordon: Do you have the dwell mini-toggle switch in the high drive setting for a drier cleaner sound? Is the "cut" turned as far as you can get it counterclockwise?

Also do you get the same effect in top boost and normal channels?

Otherwise, in order to get the cleanest sound you are correct, high master volume and very low pre-amp volume.

If you're aimng for Beatles tones, especially early Beatles tones then you should make sure you are using a RIC with toasters and not with hi-gains or humbuckers. Also, I'd suggest to not use any pedals as they didn't at that stage in their careers. Also flatwound strings would be more accurate than roundwounds to duplicate their sounds. You should be able to use the top boost channel and get their sounds pretty accurately.

What Peter means by early would be that the Celestion Blue speakers will give breakup and overdrive tones early in the volume range, since they are only 15 watts apiece, and use an alnico magnet. Having said that, using my RIC 230 into the AC30 (NO PEDALS) with the stock hot humbuckers, and flatwound strings, I can get some pretty convincing clean Beatles tones when the amp is very quiet up to about a quarter of the way up on the volume control. Once I go past that, it starts to get a little more overdrive than they used but it still sounds great. On your amp, this would be done with the master volume all the way up and using the other volume control as a regular volume control instead of as a gain knob.

thanks ! ...will be printing this page out
My Ric is a 1990 360/12wb ..with whatever pickups
were put on standard...i guess hi-gains, so there could be a problem
...i'll check the dwell and cut, though i thought i tried the dwell with not much
audible difference...hmmmm?
...yes, same effect from both TB and normal channels

With the hi-gains, you should be able to get sounds that are in the same ballpark as what the Beatles did, but you will get closer with toasters. Also you may consider using a Gretsch guitar too, as George was often using those instead of Rics, except when he played his 12 string Rics. If you're trying to play John's guitar parts with a 12 string, you won't really sound correct, since John used the two different era 325 models, which use toasters and have a shorter scale length than the 12 string 360's like George used.

My 230 model RIC has their humbuckers in it, which are even hotter than your hi-gains, and I can still get a good clean sound, so I would guess you may have the amp settings incorrect somehow.

Let's hear the latest Gordon!

i certainly have learned a lot and thank you guys for it. Since i ordered the VOX without hearing it (they didnt have any
in the store, my previous amp broke and wanted a new one ASAP, i ordered from reviews on the net) ...i took it back
...from what Greg mentioned re: Fender for Byrds and other sites for the Byrds/Beatle clean sound, the '65 Twin Reverb
was recommended, they had one at the store, i tried it ...that was
it!...super clean ...got home and plugged in JangleBox ...Byrds ! ...certainly much better for my purposes

If you're aiming for Byrds sounds, then a Fender will get you there better than a Vox. Personally, I think the Vox is a more versatile amp than a Twin Reverb but if it suits your needs, then that is the right choice. Good luck with it!

thanks ...the Vox does have a great tone for sure, but clean is #1 importance for me ...i'll settle using overdrive
pedals for edge...ideally, i wish i had the $$$ for both amps

Hi Gordon. You are getting some great advice here about how to setup your AC30. I have a British made AC30 w/Blues and its wonderful. I get clean headroom all the way up between 1/2 and 3/4 and its LOUD; and with my new C63 12-string, it's awesome. Byrds, Beatles, no problem. My '67 Gretsch Tennessean sounds fantastic through the AC30 too.

I have played the newer AC30s (with blues) and they are really nice and noticed very nice headroom as well, not quite as much as the one I have, but still very acceptable. They have so much more variety however, while keeping true to the original sound. Not quite sure why yours is breaking up so quickly if you are setting it up as recommended for clean sound. I can understand your concern. Why don't you consider brining it back in to where you bought it and ask them to check it out. Something doesn't seem right with it. Good luck, you deserve to have your new amp perform the way its meant too.

Bill ...thanks ...i dont know the exact problem whether the amp was out
of spec or what...i ordered the amp as there was none in the store ...our
rhythm guitarist has a AD120VT and a vintage AC30 (sorry, i dont know the year)
and my '90 360/12WB (hi-gains) sounds fine through both of them ..from advice
here, and correctly so, the only way i could get a clean sound from the CC2X was to
crank the master volume to full and have a low pre-amp volume ...thing was,
anything past '1' and the amp would distort and a '1' setting is too low of a
volume ....since i play in a tribute band that plays 90% Beatles and the rest Byrds
and Badfinger, this distortion was unacceptable (though ok for Badfinger tunes )

The store i bought it from has a really good return policy, 30 days full refund,
so i returned it, and they had a '65 Twin Reverb reissue there ...i remember
Greg saying Byrds used Fenders and that the Beatles were using AC100 when they
had the 12 string which has much more clean headroom so i tried the '65 Twin Reverb,
_very_ clean !!! ...so i bought it and very happy with it