Rickenbacker Wiring: Modern vs. Vintage (330k Pots vs 250/500, 0.0047uF Capacitor...And More!)

The Gemini Pickups Rickenbacker wiring schematic: https://www.geminipickups.com/wiring-...

Last month I showed you the 'finished article' of my Rickenbacker 330 - freshly modded with toaster pickups, vintage wiring, and more. But let's go back to square one and take a closer look at how we got to that point.

Today - in the first video of three, maybe four (and yes, I know I said in the video it'd be two...I got carried away!) we'll be starting with the pots. Back in the day, Rickenbacker used a fairly different set of values to the current-issue '330k all round'. But how much difference does that actually make in the real world? Can we make a modern Ricky sound vintage simply by changing some values? Does one sound 'better' than the other? Or are they the same?

And then, there's the question of the 'mythical' high-pass capacitor that they used on the vintage models...it definitely makes a big difference to the sound of the bridge (and middle) pickup positions, but is it one that we like? I'll explore modern wiring, vs two vintage wirings - with and without that capacitor.

What do you think? Which set of pots/wiring was your favourite? Or did it make too little difference to matter? Comment below!

Amp is a Dr Z Z-Master. Recorded with Aston Spirit Condenser, '70s Sennheiser MD441 and sE RNR1 ribbon mics, with a Schoeps CMC6 room mic.

0:00 Intro
2:24 Gemini Pickups Schematic
3:23 The 0.0047uF Capacitor
5:35 Clean Playing
8:07 Gainy Playing
10:36 Outro


jp@joeperkins.co.uk

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