Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have been playing my 1995 325v59 in the worship band at church, I play rhythm, and I simply can’t get the kind of sound out of it that I want. It’s too bassy and muddy, and was particularly bad today. I know some of that might be the hot toasters, and I am not opposed to a pickup change to scatterwounds, but I wanted to toss out my setup and see if anyone has any suggestions for anything I might could do differently to help the situation before going to a pickup change.

The guitar has Glen’s Loom in it, and I use bridge only for the foot stomping songs and the neck and bridge mixed with neck volume at about 80% for the more melodic songs. Tone controls are wide open. The guitar has a Sorkin bridge but I don’t use flatwounds, I use pure nickel roundwounds.

From the output, the guitar goes to:

1. Peterson StroboStomp HD tuner;

2. Digitech Mosaic 12-string sim pedal, level set at 11 o’clock and tone at 1 o’clock;

3. Janglebox JB2 compressor, gain at 11 o’clock, attack at 1 o’clock, bass at 3 o’clock and treble at 1 o’clock. (Is this the problem and also should I be using the Jangle Boost?)

4. Donner Tutti Love chorus, everything at 9 o’clock, just looking for a subtle effect (the lead guitarist is into U2-type atmospherics so I try to stay fairly conventional to set a “floor” under him so to speak);

5. Caline Blue Ocean delay, everything again at 9 o’clock just for a subtle effect;

6. Xotic EP Booster, again at 9 o’clock just for a subtle “goose” of the signal;

7. Tech 21 Liverpool character pedal which mimics AC-30 with Alnico Blues, with clean settings as per the manual,

8. DI box to soundboard.

Again, would appreciate any suggestions of what I might could do differently here … and it will probably have to be done next time I play at church, don’t know if I can recreate all the variables at home … before jumping to a pickup change.

How's it sound without all the "toys" in between the guitar and the DI? Also, is this used only in church through their FOH system? Have you ever played the guitar into a guitar amp?

jps wrote: Sun Apr 27, 2025 6:03 pm How's it sound without all the "toys" in between the guitar and the DI? Also, is this used only in church through their FOH system? Have you ever played the guitar into a guitar amp?

I’ve not tried it without the toys. I may do that at practice.

I have used it with a Fender Super Champ XD amp, with the BF sound chosen, and it’s acceptable because I have the tone controls on the amp to tweak. But unfortunately sound folks don’t want real amps they want people going DI. The only real tone controls in my current setup are on the JB2. Again I’m wondering if I should spike the treble there and maybe engage the Jangle Boost, I’ve shied away from that out of fear of going too far the other way and getting too trebly.

On edit: No amps are permitted, must have something that goes to the board. I have a POD Go that I’m still learning but I like the Tech 21’s Vox model better than the POD Go’s, I can’t get an acceptable clean sound from the POD Go and I don’t want to be Brian May, I want to be George or John.

On edit again: EQ pedal maybe?

On edit again: I am thinking this may be a FOH issue. I’m reluctant to push it hard at present because we just put in a massive new board and they are still trying to figure it out. I just wanted input on whether anything might be off with my setup.

My only playing experience with a 325 was through a "real" (no built-in effects) tube amp. it sounds like what I would expect from a Rick guitar . My only issue was the shorter scale of it as I am used to "standard" scale guitars.

Hmmm, I have a 350v63 fitted with one of Aceonbass’s wiring looms and run it through a Janglebox Nano with a hint of my Digitech Mosaic to a Positive Grid Spark 40 amp with an AC30 simulation and have enough treble for days just using the neck pickup at 80% (to add some meat) with the bridge pickup full on with the vintage cap engaged.
The only time I use the JB treble boost is when I blend in the middle pickup again around 80% and get a very convincing “Nowhere Man” tone, could not be happier.
I think Janglebox suggest the compressor should be the first pedal in your chain, it might be worth starting backwards turning off each pedal one by one or different combinations and see if you loose any muddiness.

I had a 325v59 and don't recall it not sounding jangly.

As jps pointed out, it's important to know what it sounds like without any other effect in the signal path first before sorting it all out.

I think the problem is youre just plugging a bunch of pedals into a DI. You need one of the modern units every pro is switching to these days like a Helix, etc, that is made for this purpose. Plugging pedals right into a board without any device that would properly emulate what happens in an amp will always sound dark and muddy. You did mention a few pedals that emulate amp sounds, but (correct me if Im wrong) those are meant to make a not-so-great amp sound like a better one, not meant to plug directly into a mixing board.

Edited to add: just looked up the Tech 21 Liverpool. Yes, I can 100% confirm this is your problem. Time to sell all those pedals and get a Helix, Kemper, or equivalent.

jdogric12 wrote: Fri May 09, 2025 8:14 am I think the problem is youre just plugging a bunch of pedals into a DI. You need one of the modern units every pro is switching to these days like a Helix, etc, that is made for this purpose. Plugging pedals right into a board without any device that would properly emulate what happens in an amp will always sound dark and muddy. You did mention a few pedals that emulate amp sounds, but (correct me if Im wrong) those are meant to make a not-so-great amp sound like a better one, not meant to plug directly into a mixing board.

Edited to add: just looked up the Tech 21 Liverpool. Yes, I can 100% confirm this is your problem. Time to sell all those pedals and get a Helix, Kemper, or equivalent.

I missed this answer from last year. I’m not a professional, I play at church, so a Helix or a Kemper ain’t happening. I cannot justify the cost.

I do have a Line 6 POD Go and I have spent literally hours trying multiple presets and multiple amp models and I can’t get anything that sounds remotely acceptable with the 325 or with my Dan Electro 12 with flatwounds with upgraded Nep-tone pickups from Doug Tulloch, the Dan Electro guru. The thing simply doesn’t do jangle well. The Tech 21 that is supposed to simulate an AC-30 with a built-in Blue Alnico speaker simulation had gotten me closer than anything else, that’s why I used it.

Although I am having more success now with a Joyo amp sim pedal that’s a clone of Tech 21’s Fender black face or tweet sim pedal. (John had a tweed Fender Deluxe before the Voxes came around.) With the setup of the guitar into my tuner then into my Janglebox JB2 with the jangle boost on and the level at about 11 o’clock, then into a reverb pedal, then into a Timmy transparent overdrive pedal set as a clean boost with the bass turned down about halfway, then into the Joyo set clean and then to FOH, it’s better although I am still not 100% pleased.

I would absolutely prefer to use a modeler, it’s a lot simpler than a bunch of pedals, but I’ve tried the AC-15 and AC-30 models and various Fender models and even Marshall and Roland JC models and everything still sounds like garbage to me with the Rick and the DanO 12, I have great presets for my other guitars.

I have a modeler made by IK Multimedia called an Amplitude TONEX. It cost about $250 and has a lot of great sounding amps and cabs built in. They also make a smaller version I have not tried. A bit of a learning curve and you can swap out and download custom amps and patches. I’ve never tried it out live direct into a PA, but I’ve liked the tones I get via amps and just the built in headphone jack.