Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

hi i was thinking of building my own rick o sound box anybody out there got a wiring diagram any help appreciated i was thinking of a box either plastic or metal with the 2 mono and 1 stereo female 1/4' jack sockets and just buying the leads 2 normal and 1 stereo any help / specs greatly appreciated thanks staffy

Apparantly the folks over at bayou cables can make you a nice 1 stereo to 2 mono output box for maybe just a little more than it would cost to make a quality one yourself without the hassle. They can also make you a pro quality splitter cable that does exactly the same thing. Check out their website and I'm sure they can hook you up with whatever you want them to make you.

All you need to do it yourself is 1 stereo cable(plugged into the ROS jack on your guitar), 1 stereo 1/4 inch jack to plug the other end of the stereo cable into, 2 mono 1/4 inch jacks with the hot connection(there are 2)of the stereo jack hooked up to the hot of each mono jack(one to one jack, one to the other), and all of the grounding lugs connected to a common ground, and mount it in a box. Now connect a mono cable to each of the mono jacks and hook them up to 2 different amps, channels, sound cards, whatever, and there you go.

You can get all the parts you need from any DIY effects websites, like General Guitar Gadgets or Small Bear, but still give the Bayou Cable folks first crack at it as I think they have them premade.

I don't know why RIC stopped making them, as they couldn't have been that expensive or labor intensive to make, and cost 75 dollars to buy one. With ROS being a giant part of the Rickenbacker legacy, I find it odd that they no longer make the box, yet nearly every instrument they make is set up for ROS usage.

Good luck, and enjoy.

Bayou-O-Sound (BOS) box, $20: http://www.bayoucables.com/bayouosound-box-p-222.html

It doesn't have the cool ROS Lightning Bolt, but one can't beat the price!

I think it would cost just as much or more to make one, when one considers the price of one stereo jack, two mono jacks, and the box itself.

A standard TRS insert cable as used on mixing desks and two female-female 1/4" mono barrel adapters is another option.

I have my splitter cords custom made by guitar-cable.com. You pick the wire you want, the plugs you want, overall length and the lengths of each individual leg and they build it as specified. They aren't cheap, but getting exactly what you want usually isn't and their workmanship is top notch. The part that replaces the ROS box is that bulge in the cable neer the middle of the coil.

http://best-tronics.com/guitar-cable/index.aspx

Yeah, 20 bucks, can't beat that for a preconstructed box. On the other hand, having a quality cable made like Todds made is a great option as well. It really just depends on what you want. Good luck, and welcome to the forum.

paologregorio wrote:It doesn't have the cool ROS Lightning Bolt, but one can't beat the price!

My Bolt logo wore off a long time ago.... I just have a little gray box now.

ram wrote:My Bolt logo wore off a long time ago.... I just have a little gray box now.

context is everything....

You can split your signal 2, 3, or 4 ways with one of these ...

http://www.rolls.com/products/mx41.php

I wonder if Marty Willson-Piper uses one of those with his Ricks; I've seen him use three or four AC30s on stage at once.

hi thanks everybody for your help il try bayou cables and see whether they ship to scotland il probably go for the stereo splitter box easy to replace dodgy cables il keep it simple hopefully less hassle cheers staffy

you can get an inexpensive part from radio shack that will split the stereo into 2 mono signals.

I have one of Bayou's splitter boxes winging its way to York, U.K. as we speak, so I'm sure they'll post one to where you are, in God's own country. If I recall correctly, the postage to U.K. is about 20 bucks again, but what with the strong pound to dollar ratio, etc...

carthaqprfc wrote:I have one of Bayou's splitter boxes winging its way to York, U.K. as we speak, so I'm sure they'll post one to where you are, in God's own country. If I recall correctly, the postage to U.K. is about 20 bucks again, but what with the strong pound to dollar ratio, etc...

Nice: Ten pounds for the box, ten pounds for shipping. Sweet.

I built my own (pics in this thread), and it did indeed cost me about $20. If I had known about the Bayou box at the time I would have just bought one. Once you ship it to the UK, though, it would probably be cheaper to just make one.