Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I recently fitted a 4700pf cap (a 70s one) to my RM1999 as its original one left long ago.
The horsehoe now sounds as expected (kind of horrible)
The both pickups on sounds a bit different like the toaster only with a bit of extra treble and a bit blury in the low end (as expected)

Fiddling around I found a happy accident:
In the both pickups on sound I turned down the treble tone and got not what I expected, instead of there being a treble cut there was a sort of mid boost that made my bass sound sort of 4004ish or thunderbirdish (without the output of course)
varying the tone control goes from the High/low RM sound to this rounded growl that I did not think that it could do (short of fitting it with a re-issue horse)
Selecting the neck only has the usual sound (my favorite)
Selecting the horse only with the cap in place and the tone down left almost no sound.
But mixed together......

Has anyone else stumbled on this sound? or will it only happen with pickups of certian inductance/impeadence etc.
If anyone has the cap in place or has the vintage tone switch give it a go. Engage the bass cut cap and then roll the treble tone down with both pickups on.

I was going to remove the cap again as I thought that it strangled most of the output from the weak horseshoe, but now....

Eden.

You might want to post this in the Vibrola section also.

I assume that you have confirmed that the rest of the wiring is correct, right? (That might make a difference.)

I would think that the relative output of each pickup is an important part of the mix, ie, pickup height. I will try the roll off test on my 4001V63 as it has a magnetic HS in it and a modern scatterwound toaster.

doctorwho wrote:You might want to post this in the Vibrola section also.

I assume that you have confirmed that the rest of the wiring is correct, right? (That might make a difference.)

There is no fault, it's just a curious thing that happens when you combine a bass cut with treble cut and then parallel it with another pickup of similar impeadence... I just did not expect such a cool sound to be lurking under the surface......

Eden.

jps wrote:I would think that the relative output of each pickup is an important part of the mix, ie, pickup height. I will try the roll off test on my 4001V63 as it has a magnetic HS in it and a modern scatterwound toaster.

As long as it has the yucky cap in service that should do it.....

Eden.

But the cap really doesn't affect output, just the signal EQ. The high frequencies ought to be in equal strength. Especially if you are plugging into a high input impedance, in which case I find the cap does not make the pickup sound thin at all.

cassius987 wrote:But the cap really doesn't affect output, just the signal EQ. The high frequencies ought to be in equal strength. Especially if you are plugging into a high input impedance, in which case I find the cap does not make the pickup sound thin at all.

I understand that it filters only below a certian frequency but that is where the percieved power resides.
By itself the horse sounds pretty starved but blended it now has more than one interesting sound.

A 4001/3 bass has 4 knobs and one (or two) switches and it is well worth twiddling with them!

emac.

I'll get the RM out tomorrow and report back Eden!