Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

A little over a year ago I had tried the scatterwound toasters, and did not care for them, and then I tried the pyramids, and did not dig them. But then I got a new amp (a blackfaced twin, which I put weber alnico california speakers in).

The hi gains with roundwound strings sounded boomy, and not real articulate, almost dirty. I had been recording alot and noticed the sound was just muddy and not that great.

So I pulled out the toasters and the pyramids and had Geoff at www.precisionfretwork.com put them on.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE!

Not only does it sound better but the strings now seem to have equal output all over the fretboard, where before the hi E pair sounded dead. There were a few other dead spots but no more.

What on earth had I been hearing before I did this!

The neck will need some more adjusting, I guess to get used to the pyramids that seem to have more tension. I know many others have made the pyramid switch, about how long does it take the neck to adjust?

Oh, I did once try the trapeze tailpiece but I actually prefer the "R".

What amp were you using before getting the Twin?

I was previously playing a Peavey Delta Blues. Not a bad amp, but for clean and more complex sounds the twin reverb blows it away.

The toasters just sounded wimpy thru the peavey and the pyramids were real mid rangey.

Uncle Spot at http://www.unclespot.com/ got the amp working for me.

In any event I am real happy with the tone now!

I went out and tried a few amps today with my 660/12. I tried a Marshall AVT20 and I was not impressed as the mids and treble were very harsh and brittle sounding no matter what I did. I then tried a Fender Blues Jr. and that was a lot better but the mids were still not as smooth and creamy as I'd like but the treble was much better. I played through a Fender Acoustisonic 30 and it sounded terrible but I can't really describe it, just kind of strange sounding is the best I can do, sorry. The nicest amp I tried was a SWR California Blond but I couldn't turn it up too loud as I was in the Acoustic room at Sam Ash. The best sounds I get with it so far is with my Raven Labs PHA-1 through AKG K401 headphones! A nice clean HI Fi system is definitely the order of the day for this guitar. I do get a real nice creamy sound with nice clear treble using my Mesa/Boogie Studio Caliper through my 2-15 Sunn cabinet that has Eminence Deltas in it.

Ideally I want a small combo for it, so I may build a cabinet with speakers to give me a nice flat response and a built-in rack for my Water Woods Electroacoustic Super Hi-Power head. I have a pair if JBL LE8-T speakers that need reconing. They may do the trick along with a good dome tweeter. Some research is clearly in my future.

You should check out Emery amps.

http://www.emerysound.com/

I love thier simplicity and the whole concept of a low wattage tube amp.

Of course I always thought the twin reverb would be too loud, but uncle spot taught me a trick.

If you turn down the treb, mid and bass knobs to "0", you have no volume even if it's on "10". So to get more usuable volume out of a twin, just treat "5" as if it were "10" and you have instant good sound at lower manageable volumes.

Of course if you want you can still turn up!

I am uncertain if modern Fender amps work this way. Mine was a '65 reissue that someone had ripped the board out of and then hand wired it. It wasn't done too well so Uncle Spot in Modesto www.unclespot.com went through it and changed a bunch of stuff around and replaced all sorts of things and got it to work. So my amp is sort of a recreation of a mid 60's black face twin.

I used to have a real nice '66 blackface Bandmaster head that I sent to Kendrick Amplifiers for Gerald Weber to modify. It sounded awesome when I got it back. I just got tired of carrying a 40 lb. 50 watt head around as I usually use my 7lb. 650 watt Walter Woods head the size of a medium size book, so I sold it a couple of years ago.

For those of you that can't afford any of the blonde tube Fenders, you might consider Peavey's Classic 30. Looks like the Fenders at half of the price. Leaves a little money to play with tubes. Plenty of volume and tube "warmth" and if you gig, they're built like tanks. Even the Classic 20 will push an extension speaker well, and you can find them all day for less than $200.
However, I've found that trying to get that "sound" out of anything other than a 12 inch speaker is very difficult. I also comprimised on the pickups by changing the bridge only to a toaster, leaving the neck pickup a hi-gain. With black hardware, you can't see the difference unless you're a few feet away. Ends up being pretty balanced without adding a capacitor and you get a big difference in tone when you change from one to the other.
Looking to see if anyone has thoughts on tube-type rack mount compressors vs. digital? And are they that much better than a good pedal? Thanks

My 360/12V64 thru a Dr Z KT45 and semi-open greenback 2x12 cab sounds.........AWESOME!!

The KT45 has a "Vox-meets-Hiwatt" tonality. A match made in heaven for the Ric!!

The Arnquist mods on the 360/12V64 have made a substantial difference, too! One of the mods is in the wiring: the stereo wiring is gone and the two jacks now give me the original voicing of the mono input on one and a "vintage" voicing on the other. The vintage voicing is achieved with the addition of a capacitor which cuts out some of the lows. Wow! Amazing tones from yesteryear! Me likey!!

My 360/12 sounds killer articulate through my Vox AVT60. The guitar has scatter wounds with Rickenbacker strings.

My 360/12 is a '67 so, of course, it has "toasters". I have Pyramid flat .010's on it and I keep it tuned down a half step. That set up alone sounds great through my Victoria amp with Jensen speaker - real bright and chime-y. But if I really want to get "that sound", I plug in an analogman "Beano" (Dallas Rangemaster treble boost) and an old MXR Dyna Comp. It gives one shivers! Given what a pain in the butt it is to re-string these suckers, it's nice to know that the flatwounds are good for a year if you keep them clean.

I agree with Peter - Dr. Z amps! tried em, just waiting to afford one. They're on the web, I think you can figure how to get there!

Dr. Z amps are made in my home town, maybe 15 miles from here!

I've played my two 360 VP's (6 and 12) through dozens of amps over the last few months. I think that I am going to forego the boutique route in favor of a vintage Blackface Fender Deluxe Reverb. There is something about the combination of the size of the cabinet, the Jensen speaker, the tube driven reverb/vibrato, and the 22 watt power section that simply works for me...plus, I can easily carry it up a few flights of stairs. I also really like my Vox AC 15TBX reissue, but the old Deluxes sound really sweet with my Ricks. I could be persuaded to buy a Top Hat or Dr. Z though...they cost about the same as the vintage Blackface Deluxes.

http://home.comcast.net/~drjeffreyb

The amp that I use with my 1997 and 360/12 CW is a 70s Silverface Deluxe Reverb with an Atlec speaker that was in the amp when I purchased it a couple of years ago. I'm very pleased with the setup.

I have gone back to using my Mesa/Boogie Studio Caliper 1-12 combo and it sounds great with the 660/12.