Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have a Ric 620 with hi-gains, which I love to play. I have a couple of issues with the set-up, though. First, the neck pickup is totally muddy - it works well blended in with the bridge pup, but is pretty worthless on its own, especially if you touch the volume knob (see issue number 2). Issue number two - if you turn down the volume either pup, the treble very quickly rolls off (much worse on the neck than the bridge, but pretty bad in both cases).

I've been thinking of putting some Lollar Broilers in - the demo on the Lollar site sounds so much better than the high-gains . . . . but in researching how I'd have to wire them up, I came across this article: http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/2 ... e-controls, which seems to suggest that the approach they use to wiring Rics may be behind the big treble roll-off. Of course, the Ric schematics (and the wiring itself) is hard to follow, so I can't quite tell if it really is wired this way (the behavior suggests it - the volumes are independent and you get the treble roll-off with volume). Has anyone tried re-wiring their Ric to a Gibson set-up? Does it help with the treble roll-off issue?

Also - any reviews on the Broilers? I've seen a couple of people here comment on them, but not a ton . . .

Finally - I know the Ric pots are all 330k. Would switching to 500k help?

RIC hi-gains are great pickups, if not a little too hot at times. The stock 330K pots kill some of the clarity in everything they're in (which is everything RIC makes). I build custom wiring harnesses for Ricks using the earlier spec pots of 500K for tone and 250K for volume, matched in pairs. Sounds like you may have a problem with your neck pickup though. Have you tried measuring it's output?

I haven't - don't have an ohm-meter. I've been wondering if that might be part of the problem - I had another 620 a few years and I don't remember the neck pup being so awful. I'll pick one up and check it as soon as all this ice melts

Does the old wiring approach still do the independent volume thing mentioned in the article?

The wiring diagram in the article is a variation on Les Paul wiring that's actually similar to the way a 4002 bass is wired, but stock RIC wiring has volume controls that work independently of each other to begin with.

Checked the pups today - both register about 10.9k - that seems pretty normal, right?

Checked everything else in the circuit, too - the pots are around 270, the caps are both around .047 . . . I can't figure out why that neck pup is so bassy.

you can take a cap (I had a .0047 lying around) and attach each end to the outside posts of the fifth knob pot. The 5th knob will act as a bass roll off for the neck pickup. I found it useful, but everyone is different. Look around the forums for people's instructions/thoughts/reviews about the mod to make sure it's something you want to do before you do anything to your instrument.

kiki_90291 wrote:Checked everything else in the circuit, too - the pots are around 270.

While 270K is fine for single coil volume controls, it's not too good for a tone control. I use 500K's for that. I'm surprised RIC is using pots that are that far out of spec. My CTS pots are within 10%. Then again, even if RIC went to vintage specs on their pots again, you'd never know what you were getting with those either. I measure all of my pots when they come in, and stock them by measured value from low to high.

I assume I'm measuring the pots correctly - I'm touching the probes to the outer lugs on each pot (they are still in circuit). Is that the right way to do it? Would changing the tone pots to 500k help with the excessive bass?

That is indeed the correct way to test a tone pot for resistance. 500K pots would brighten the tone considerably. The ones I have in stock are around 480K.