Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Can someone explain for me how all of the knobs on the 380L PZ work? If this has been discussed already then please direct me to that thread.

I am waiting to open the one I just bought (it's very cold in St. Louis today and the guitar sat in a UPS truck for most of the day) and want to understand how the control knobs work before I start messing with it.

I used to have one. If I recall properly, one volume and tone controls the HB1s, one set controls the piezo, and the fifth knob is a mix knob for the two different sources.

Check this out:

http://www.rickbeat.com/modelslibrary/380lpz/380lpz.htm

Dave Wiggins sold his long ago.I know because I bought it from him in 2004.Nice guitar. I just could not get the tones I wanted from the HBs. I considered gold-plating a set of toasters, and also considered losing all the gold and just going to chrome hardware with toasters. Ultimately I just kind of gave up. I did really like the PZ option.

I have somewhere the actual instructions for the 380L PZ, but they are not filed, so I may or may not be able to find them in a reasonable time.

I had a 380L PZ and it was a very versatile guitar with regard to tone, but I was convinced that the PZ and HBs were out of phase.

Here is a scan of the instructions that came with mine...

Now THAT's nice.

Yes, the HB and PZ are out of phase. You'll get a serious volume and tone drop with the fifth knob at the "5" position. John Pollard aka squid has a thread in technical about how to fix it. I still plan to do mine, just haven't yet. The Ric-o-sound is very useful on this model. If the Forum CD ever comes out, you can hear my PZ output on the second half of my song.

Thanks everyone. I now understand how the knobs should work but in practice they don't seem to be cooperating.
I have just the guitar out of the case for the first time (it is beautiful) and plugged it in for a test. When I dial the fifth knob (the blend knob) all the way to the right (as I'm looking down at the guitar playing it) or counter clockwise, I get absolutely no sound. Shouldn't this be balancing the two (the HBs and the PZ) all the way in favor of the PZ? I have the volume and tone settings at about half-way for both the HB controls and the PZ control.

Is there no such thing as full PZ (and no HB) function?

Bob, I had the same with mine when I got it. The problem (on mine) was that one of the pots had twisted under the pickguard and a lug was shorting against the lug of the next pot. Twisted it back, nipped it up and no problem.

Check the 9V battery too. Yes, 5th knob counterclockwise all the way should be PZ, and a little louder than the HB's. I almost always place the regular 4 knobs all the way up. Sometimes I roll neck volume down to 6-8, and neck tone down to 7-9, to make it less muddy (any model Rick).

jdogric12aolcom wrote:... If the Forum CD ever comes out, ...

Thanks for the vote of (no) confidence!

Yeah, the PZ battery is probably dead.

Gary, I didn't mean to be hurtful with my comment, I apologize for that. But dude it has been a pretty long time, so I don't think my comment was completely out of line, especially when others' offers to assist have been declined. Again, I apologize, as my tone was too harsh, which is inappropriate for this forum, not to mention a great forumite like you, but I am confident most people here will see where I was coming from.

How about that 380??? Bob?

Okay, so now it's time to 'fess up. I never checked the battery before plugging it in. When I popped the cover to see what was up, I discovered that there was NO BATTERY!!! I wonder what previous owners thought when they listened to it.

Went out and bought a new 9V, put it in, followed all of the great info you folks sent me on how to work all of the controls, and I'm happy to report - - - the guitar sounds incredible. In the PZ mode the guitar sounds unlike any Rick I've ever heard. The wider neck has a nice feel as well. Thanks again for all the help. Next time I'll check the battery first, duh

Congrats, Bob.....I know you'll enjoy that beauty!!