Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi, it's been a while...

As the title says... an idea I have been toying with.
My pickup selector switch is faulty so years ago I just soldered a wire across it. It must need resoldering as occasionally the sound breaks up (like it used to through the switch). I always play with both pickups on (bridge rolled back a little), so I'm wondering if a knob/pot to control the blend could be an interesting experiment instead of the switch.

Sometimes the switch gets accidentally knocked so this might help with that. (Also I wish the switch could be turned 90° to better match which pickup is being selected, but that's just me and my OCD).

Thoughts?

Not sure which bass you are talking about. The two Volume knobs on 4001/4003 sorta already do that/ I did it (the blend) with my 4004C and love it. it originally had a single Volume for both pickups. HTH

Replacing the switch with a pan/blend pot can get a bit tricky to do if the bass has ROS.

ram wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2024 8:39 am Not sure which bass you are talking about. The two Volume knobs on 4001/4003 sorta already do that/ I did it (the blend) with my 4004C and love it. it originally had a single Volume for both pickups. HTH

You're right, it's a bit redundant with the two volume knobs.
It's a 4003s.

jps wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2024 10:47 am Replacing the switch with a pan/blend pot can get a bit tricky to do if the bass has ROS.

Which mine has.

I mulled this over and my recollection is also that it is impossible to do a normal blend pot with a ROS circuit. But with a DPDT switch you could probably make it work (pull up to go into "ROS mode").

cassius987 wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2024 7:30 am I mulled this over and my recollection is also that it is impossible to do a normal blend pot with a ROS circuit. But with a DPDT switch you could probably make it work (pull up to go into "ROS mode").

What does DPDT stand for?

It's all sounding a bit hard anyway... I'll just try to get the original switch working properly.

DPDT = double pole, double throw.

Nice thing about a blend knob is you can dial out the comb filtering of the middle toggle position by turning the knob slightly right or left center. Or still keep the comb filtering if you like that by keeping it in the center. Just another sound option for the bass.

Only downside is you can't switch pups as fast with a knob as you can with a toggle.

lumgimfong wrote: Sun Jul 07, 2024 12:54 pm Nice thing about a blend knob is you can dial out the comb filtering of the middle toggle position by turning the knob slightly right or left center. Or still keep the comb filtering if you like that by keeping it in the center. Just another sound option for the bass.

Only downside is you can't switch pups as fast with a knob as you can with a toggle.

Can you post a wiring diagram on how to implement blend control in a circuit with ROS?

I think it's only doable in mono or basically forces the circuit into mono, but with a DPDT you could choose when to enable this.

I like the idea of a blend knob but I'm not sure it's that much better than VVTT to make such a complicated circuit (to keep ROS compatibility) worth the hassle.

Good point. I forgot to mention I’ve only done it on a 2 pickup, three control knob (v/b/t) mono output jack bass