Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi all,

It's a long time since I lurked on this forum, life gets in the way!

Anyway, I've recently purchased a 1992 330/6FG to add to my various Rick basses and a 360/12. I was expecting the 330 to be very bright sounding but it's actually dark and raunchy, nothing like the Paul Weller/Jam tones that I was expecting and hoping for. Having searched the forum quite extensively it seems that the volume pots can be a problem so I checked the treble volume pot and it's 175k or thereabouts.This seems very low, does it seem correct? I've temporarily bypassed the volume pot and the 330 is brighter sounding but I'm going to replace the volume pots, any suggested values?

Other than a p/u change which I'm not going to do, is there anything else that I need to be looking at?

Many thanks.

Regards,


Graham.

Those pickups are wound much higher than the toaster (probably) on earlier guitars, particularly, those with toasters. As you don't want to install toaster pickups in your guitar, perhaps, a brighter amp is in order, along with the pots you intend to switch out (to 500K).

Measure all of the pots in your guitar. If the tone pots are also 175k, then that's a bigger problem than the volume pots. RIC uses pots with a short 1/4" buushing, so don't buy the standard 3/8" bushing pots. The tone pots should measure in the 500k range, and the volume pots in the 250k range.

Thanks guys.

The amp isn't a problem thankfully. I'll check all the pot values and report back.

Regards,


Graham.

Paul Weller's 330s also would have had the bass-cut capacitor wired to the bridge pickup.

Buy a 70s 330.
Cut the bass from a vox ac30.
Cut the bass from the guitar.
Turn up the vox Loud.
Attack the guitar.
https://youtu.be/7bfQq2_Y6WA

sloop_john_b wrote:Paul Weller's 330s also would have had the bass-cut capacitor wired to the bridge pickup.

I did wonder about that.

Regards,


Graham.

OK, I've checked the tone pots and they are 450k. Any further thoughts?

Regards,


Graham.

While not optimal, 450k tone pots shouldn't be the problem. The volume pots are too low at 175K, while they should be closer to 250k.

aceonbass wrote:While not optimal, 450k tone pots shouldn't be the problem. The volume pots are too low at 175K, while they should be closer to 250k.

Adding together all these suggestions, for which I am grateful, it sounds as if 250k volume pots, 500k tone pots plus the bass-cut capacitor for the bridge p/u, are what I should be aiming for.

Regards,


Graham

Your hi gain pickups are wound much hotter than Weller's early seventies ones.
They produce a much darker tone to begin with. It'll be quite difficult to get that sound by changing the pots only.
Unwinding them to 7 or 8 kOhm should clear that up.

wim wrote:Your hi gain pickups are wound much hotter than Weller's early seventies ones.
They produce a much darker tone to begin with. It'll be quite difficult to get that sound by changing the pots only.
Unwinding them to 7 or 8 kOhm should clear that up.

Thanks for that Wim, I'll bear it in mind.

Regards,


Graham.

gt40graham wrote:

aceonbass wrote:While not optimal, 450k tone pots shouldn't be the problem. The volume pots are too low at 175K, while they should be closer to 250k.

Adding together all these suggestions, for which I am grateful, it sounds as if 250k volume pots, 500k tone pots plus the bass-cut capacitor for the bridge p/u, are what I should be aiming for.

Regards, Graham

If you're thinking of replacing the 450k tone pots you have with 500k pots, be advised, it's not likely you'll actually get 500k pots that are any more accurate than what you have. I do however stock 500k pots that are within 1% of spec.

aceonbass wrote: If you're thinking of replacing the 450k tone pots you have with 500k pots, be advised, it's not likely you'll actually get 500k pots that are any more accurate than what you have. I do however stock 500k pots that are within 1% of spec.

Thanks for the offer Dane. I'm in the UK so it will be much easier to get them here.

Regards,


Graham.

gt40graham wrote:

wim wrote:Your hi gain pickups are wound much hotter than Weller's early seventies ones.
They produce a much darker tone to begin with. It'll be quite difficult to get that sound by changing the pots only.
Unwinding them to 7 or 8 kOhm should clear that up.

Thanks for that Wim, I'll bear it in mind.

Regards,


Graham.

Seventies 330 high gain pairs are very mismatched on all the ones I’ve owned, so the neck is 12-14k and the bridge is around 7-8k.