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480 XC Neck Pickup Tone - I think this is an issue
Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2025 3:07 pm
by yankees1964
I got a lot of help when I got my 480XC learning what the push pull was for, thank you for that help.
I have another question.
I noticed that no matter what I do, the tone on the neck pickup never changes. Bridge and middle when I use the bridge dial it works, neck just stays the same. Before I send it back (I hate to hand anything to FedEx or UPS that I expect to get back), I wanted to ask here for the folks that have one. Yes, it seems obvious to me, but before I shipped it I wanted to ask.
I reached out to the factory, it's still under warranty, and wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Thank you.
Re: 480 XC Neck Pickup Tone - I think this is an issue
Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2025 3:30 pm
by Uffingdon
The “push/pull” tone pot with its “vintage capacitor” only affects the bridge pickup, so I think
your 480XC is working correctly!
Re: 480 XC Neck Pickup Tone - I think this is an issue
Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2025 4:10 pm
by jps
Uffingdon wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 3:30 pm
The “push/pull” tone pot with its “vintage capacitor” only affects the bridge pickup, so I think
your 480XC is working correctly!
This, as far as I can tell. The OP's wording is really weird/ambiguous.
Re: 480 XC Neck Pickup Tone - I think this is an issue
Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2025 5:34 pm
by yankees1964
Uffingdon wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 3:30 pm
The “push/pull” tone pot with its “vintage capacitor” only affects the bridge pickup, so I think
your 480XC is working correctly!
I only mentioned the push/pull cause of an issue I had before, this has nothing to do with that. Didn't mean for it to be confusing.
When I use the neck pickup the neck tone control does nothing. The tone does not change no matter what I do.
Flip the switch to the neck position, play with the tone control, tone never changes. I am 99% sure that is an issue, I just want to make sure before I send it back. I don't care about paying to ship it back, I don't want it ship it across the country and risk an issue from UPS or FedEX. I know they did not sell a lot of these and was hoping that someone on here who owned one also could tell that theirs does not work that way and that I do have an issue. I reached out to the factory, they were helpful but only spoke in general terms.
Re: 480 XC Neck Pickup Tone - I think this is an issue
Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2025 7:29 pm
by jps
yankees1964 wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 5:34 pm
I only mentioned the push/pull cause of an issue I had before, this has nothing to do with that. Didn't mean for it to be confusing.
When I use the neck pickup the neck tone control does nothing. The tone does not change no matter what I do.
Flip the switch to the neck position, play with the tone control, tone never changes. I am 99% sure that is an issue, I just want to make sure before I send it back. I don't care about paying to ship it back, I don't want it ship it across the country and risk an issue from UPS or FedEX. I know they did not sell a lot of these and was hoping that someone on here who owned one also could tell that theirs does not work that way and that I do have an issue. I reached out to the factory, they were helpful but only spoke in general terms.
Have you pulled the pickguard and taken a look at the harness? It might be a simple thing that can be taken care of by yourself, possibly, or not.
Re: 480 XC Neck Pickup Tone - I think this is an issue
Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2025 3:18 pm
by doctorwho
I did a YouTube search on "Rickenbacker 480XC" and there are a number of videos demonstrating it (I watched one, I didn't watch all of them, sorry!). I don't know if any show the variation in tone from changing the control settings, but you might check them out to see if they help.
Re: 480 XC Neck Pickup Tone - I think this is an issue
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2025 6:36 pm
by jdogric12
Here is mine:
https://youtu.be/OzMKvuOMQjE?si=EKrRrufCm6ByDMNO
And if you stream my song It Was Worth Asking (Jason Mendelson) it is the guitar playing the opening riff, with the knob pulled up for vintage tone.
your 480XC is working correctly!