Rick cable

[bigd1]

A student of mine has a Ricky stereo bass. But he is using it with a single mono lead (Doh!!), anyhow does anybody know where he can order or get a cable made. He is looking for a 20ft ish lead of good quality. Any help would be great.

BIGd

[tayste_2000]

Pm OBBM on this forum he'll make it

[john_the_bass]

is this the one with the two outputs on it? If so aren't you supposed to use two mono cables into one rick-o-sound box?

I've never used a Ric so I don't know for definite but I was under the impression you could either use them in mono, stereo to two amps or stereo into a rick-o-sound, but all with mono leads.

[bigd1]

Yes it is the one with 2 sockets, I know some players who do run them so you can run each pickup to a separate amp. The owner wants to run this through one amp but use both pick ups.

Thanks for the info Tayste_2000


BIGd

Edited December 3, 2007 by bigd1

[john_the_bass]

you might be able to use an a/b/y box as well - it might do the same thing as the rick-o-sound thing

[acidbass]

[quote name='bigd1' post='98150' date='Dec 3 2007, 02:21 PM']The owner wants to run this through one amp but use both pick ups.[/quote]

Is there a noticeable difference in doing this over just running in Mono (ie one output jack for both pickups) mode?

[Buzz]

I concur with Acidbass, I was under the impression that using just one output meant both pups are in use anyway.

Having two outputs and combining them into one amp seems pointless.

[stevebasshead]

I run my Rick in stereo and it's pretty straightforward. All you need to get up and running is a Y adaptor lead (Maplin?) which has a stereo plug on one end and two mono plugs on the other. Be sure to get a true stereo splitter where only the "left" channel goes to one of the mono plugs and the "right" channel goes to the other, as opposed to sending a combined left+right to both mono plugs, if you see what I mean.

The two output jacks are wired differently and aren't designed to have leads plugged into both sockets simultaneously. The one nearest the strapmount uses a mono jack socket and has both pickups routed to it, just like any other bass. The other one (labelled Ric-O-Sound) uses a stereo socket where the neck pickup goes down one lead and the bridge pickup goes down the other so you can send each pickup to it's own amp and/or FX.

The majority of people run their Ricks in mono though 'cos carting two amps and speakers around is expensive and heavy! But the benefits of running in stereo are that you can add effects to only one of the pickups and leave the other clean. In that way you'll never lose your bottom end when running distortion or heavy phasing/flanging/chorus etc. And you can EQ each amp/pickup appropriately too.

If you want to run stereo but only use a single amp you can recombine the output again post-FX by using a small mixer and send the output from that into your amp. That's the way I have my setup at the moment, my neck pickup goes into my DHA for valve OD and my bridge pickup goes through my FX processor for everything else although I tend to use mild OD as my main tone. Then both DHA and FX outputs are recombined via a minimixer. Works a treat and means I hear all my sound coming from one single source at gigs rather than half from one amp and half from another.

Hope this helps,
Steve.

[GreeneKing]

Steve

Excellent answer and interesting post.

Peter

[bigd1]

Thanks for the info guys, I was under the impression that each socket was only connected to one pick up, so will check out the above re using just the front to run the bass in mono.

Thanks again BIGd

[GreeneKing]

[quote]using just the front to run the bass in mono[/quote]

Just the back

[bigd1]

DOHHHHH !!!

Edited December 4, 2007 by bigd1

[Mr. Foxen]

I thouth they had cunning jiggery pokey with one lead give both pickups to that, and if you plug in two, it splits them, kinda like actives switch off when you unplug. I run two outputs on my bass, one through fx and one clean, and use the fx in and blend on my juggernaut pedal to combine them.

[stevebasshead]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='101376' date='Dec 8 2007, 03:00 PM']I thouth they had cunning jiggery pokey with one lead give both pickups to that, and if you plug in two, it splits them, kinda like actives switch off when you unplug.[/quote]

Not unless a previous owner has rewired it

The Ric-o-Sound socket is wired at the factory with the bridge pickup going to the tip and the neck pickup going to the ring on a stereo 6.3mm plug.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='101376' date='Dec 8 2007, 03:00 PM']I run two outputs on my bass, one through fx and one clean, and use the fx in and blend on my juggernaut pedal to combine them.[/quote]

Interesting, do you run mono cables in both sockets? I'm thinking that if you do then only the bridge pickup will be coming out of the Ric-o-Sound socket. I'm not an electronics expert but I suspect that, when you have the pickup selector switch either in the middle position or bridge-only selected then you'd be sharing the bridge pickup over two outputs - wouldn't that send a weaker signal down both cables? Not sure, anyone know?

Either way, if you're happy with the results - enjoy

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='stevebasshead' post='102773' date='Dec 11 2007, 04:36 PM']Not unless a previous owner has rewired it

The Ric-o-Sound socket is wired at the factory with the bridge pickup going to the tip and the neck pickup going to the ring on a stereo 6.3mm plug.



Interesting, do you run mono cables in both sockets? I'm thinking that if you do then only the bridge pickup will be coming out of the Ric-o-Sound socket. I'm not an electronics expert but I suspect that, when you have the pickup selector switch either in the middle position or bridge-only selected then you'd be sharing the bridge pickup over two outputs - wouldn't that send a weaker signal down both cables? Not sure, anyone know?

Either way, if you're happy with the results - enjoy [/quote]

Mine isn't a Rik, its a P bass with an extra pickup at the neck (like Sheehans wife) and two outputs, I was looking about trying to find out how the Rik trick was done, now I found out it isn't done how I thought it was, can somone figure the electrickery to do that? Otherwise I'll just have to put a switch in to make it switchable to single mono output (stereo seems kinda wrong, dual mono seems more accurate).

[stevebasshead]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='102993' date='Dec 11 2007, 11:32 PM']Mine isn't a Rik, its a P bass with an extra pickup at the neck (like Sheehans wife) and two outputs, I was looking about trying to find out how the Rik trick was done, now I found out it isn't done how I thought it was, can somone figure the electrickery to do that? Otherwise I'll just have to put a switch in to make it switchable to single mono output (stereo seems kinda wrong, dual mono seems more accurate).[/quote]

Ah, I get you, neat. And I agree completely, dual mono makes much more sense otherwise people think they have to put cabs either side of stage!

There's circuit diagrams (and a whole lot of other great Ric and non-Ric info) [url="http://www.joeysbassnotes.com/Joeys%20frameset.htm"]click here[/url]

For the circuit diagrams:

Click the Bass Guitar Maintenance link on the left
Click the photo of the Ric
Click the "Rickenbacker Bass Wiring Diagrams" link at the bottom of the list
Click on the "4003 Wiring Diagram (from '86 to late '05) PDF" (best to use this one, the other's include either the capacitor on the bridge pickup circuit or the new Vintage Tone Circuit pot.)