Is Rickenbacker's sound licensed??
Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:41 am
Does Rickenbacker license its’ name with regards to its’ sound?
In the two years that I have been here, I sure have had a heck of an education. One thing that I do not recall seeing discussed, is the newer modeling technology.
Please forgive me if this is a stupid question, or if this has been discussed before.
To digress, the guitar player in my band is a huge Line 6 fanatic. We often get into heated discussions over our outlook on gear. He being a tech head on modeling, I being from the old school of vintage instruments.
I must admit that his Line 6 system is impressive as far as flexibility. It appears that any new song that we now do, he can upload the parameters (amp head, cabinet, guitar, and effects, etc) into his master controller and the sound is almost dead on. Without bringing a ton of gear on the road, it sure does a lot. My issue with it is that after two hours of listening to it, the inorganic coldness of the non magnetic pick up sound, grates on me. I’d much rather see it used for maybe a few songs only.
Having had said all that, his Line 6 (Variax 700), does have a few “Rickenbacker” guitar models on it. My question is; can another manufacture use the name Rickenbacker in describing of its’ intended modeled sound? Are the sounds themselves protected when being referred to a Rickenbacker sounding guitar?
I see that their website does acknowledge the trademarks…
“All product names used in this website are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with Line 6. These trademarks of other manufacturers are used solely to identify the products of those manufacturers whose tones and sounds were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.”
“ RICKENBACKER® is a registered trademark of Rickenbacker International Corporation.”
In the two years that I have been here, I sure have had a heck of an education. One thing that I do not recall seeing discussed, is the newer modeling technology.
Please forgive me if this is a stupid question, or if this has been discussed before.
To digress, the guitar player in my band is a huge Line 6 fanatic. We often get into heated discussions over our outlook on gear. He being a tech head on modeling, I being from the old school of vintage instruments.
I must admit that his Line 6 system is impressive as far as flexibility. It appears that any new song that we now do, he can upload the parameters (amp head, cabinet, guitar, and effects, etc) into his master controller and the sound is almost dead on. Without bringing a ton of gear on the road, it sure does a lot. My issue with it is that after two hours of listening to it, the inorganic coldness of the non magnetic pick up sound, grates on me. I’d much rather see it used for maybe a few songs only.
Having had said all that, his Line 6 (Variax 700), does have a few “Rickenbacker” guitar models on it. My question is; can another manufacture use the name Rickenbacker in describing of its’ intended modeled sound? Are the sounds themselves protected when being referred to a Rickenbacker sounding guitar?
I see that their website does acknowledge the trademarks…
“All product names used in this website are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with Line 6. These trademarks of other manufacturers are used solely to identify the products of those manufacturers whose tones and sounds were studied during Line 6’s sound model development.”
“ RICKENBACKER® is a registered trademark of Rickenbacker International Corporation.”