Rickenbacker Backelite / Remag & 1 Meg pots

Bill Blacklock · Post by **Bill Blacklock** » 5 Apr 2005 9:58 am

I was kind of reluctant to make any changes my Rickenbacker Bakelite T Logo, the thing already sounded great but Rick knows what he’s talking about!! Yesterday I installed my recharged magnets along with 1 meg pots for the volume and tone control.

WOW!! I had no idea it would sound that good. The notes just sizzle but not over toasted, the added power really increased sustain.

Thank you Rick / Bill

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 5 Apr 2005 10:20 am

... You're welcome.

Makes gettin' yelled at by my Post Office Lady ... worth while

Guess that's where the term "Going Postal" comes from ...

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Aiello's House of Gauss


My wife and I don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless and I donate money to the topless! ... R. Dangerfield

Bill Blacklock · Post by **Bill Blacklock** » 5 Apr 2005 11:01 am

Rick,
I promise I won't put you through that again, well not for another twenty year anyway. Thanks again, I can't say enough about how pleased Iam with my little buddy's new voice. Bill

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 5 Apr 2005 12:33 pm

Hee, Hee ...

I think my P.O. ... is P.O.'ed at Canada ... in general ...

Enjoy ...

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Aiello's House of Gauss


My wife and I don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless and I donate money to the topless! ... R. Dangerfield

Terry Farmer · Post by **Terry Farmer** » 5 Apr 2005 1:21 pm

Rick, would you please explain the differences and your reasoning for using 1 meg pots instead of 250 or 500K. I'm getting close to pot time with the Shortys and I may want to go the 1 meg route. You've got my curiosity up once again. Thanks.

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 5 Apr 2005 2:08 pm

My philosophy is ... let as much of the signal that's generated by the pickup ... leave the guitar.

Let the tone controls on the amp ... shape the tone.

When I usta use a volume pedal ... all my steels were wired straight to the jack ... no vol/tone ...

But now ... I do want some level of control at the guitar ... so I pick the pots that "suck the least" tone outta my signal.

Just my opinion ...

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Aiello's House of Gauss


My wife and I don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless and I donate money to the topless! ... R. Dangerfield

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 5 Apr 2005 2:23 pm

I've been remiss to not also thank Rick publicly for recharging up my Rickenbacher mags as well. The difference was astounding please Rick took time out of his day to answer my dumb questions. Thanks Rick!!

Ray Montee · Post by **Ray Montee** » 5 Apr 2005 2:31 pm

Rick, excuse my ignorance, but for those who might want to know: What kind of a Doo=Wah affect does one get with the higher thingies you prefer? Jerry Byrd uses the 250 as I recall and what an affect he can produce with that.

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 5 Apr 2005 3:06 pm

Basically ... the higher the resistance value of the potentiometer ... the less treble that gets sent to ground when the pot is wide open.

1,000 K ohm (1 meg) pots ... shunt very little high end to ground when wide open.

500 K ohm pots ... shunt more treble to ground when on "10".

250 K ohm pots ... shunt alot of treble to ground when wide open.

100 K ohms pots (what many original Rickys used) ... shunt a great deal of treble to ground ... when fully open.

Capacitors (in conjunction with tone pots) work kinda the opposite. The higher the value of the cap ... the more treble that gets sent to ground.

0.022 mfd caps roll off alittle treble ...

0.047 mfd caps roll off more ...

0.01 mfd caps roll off abunch of treble ...

I imagine a 1 meg pot with say a 0.047 mfd or even a 0.01 mfd capacitor ... would give you a very nice array of tones for that "Boo-Wah" thing.

Nice crisp highs ... with enough roll-off via the capacitor ... to enjoy the low end ???

All this stuff is cheap ... a couple sets of "gator clips" and some copper wire ... and you can mix and match to your hearts content ... till you find what works for you and the things you do.

None of the steels I play regularly ... even have tone control ... so what do I know about "Boo-Wah" anyway ...

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Aiello's House of Gauss


My wife and I don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless and I donate money to the topless! ... R. Dangerfield

[This message was edited by Rick Aiello on 05 April 2005 at 04:29 PM.]

Bill Blacklock · Post by **Bill Blacklock** » 5 Apr 2005 5:39 pm

The new volume control ( 1 meg pot from "Torres" ) in my guitar is very touchy. If I accidently give it a bump the cat just about goes through the living room window. The volume needs to be micro ajusted, a bit of a bump and its at full throttle in over drive. Im not sure if this is due to the type of pot the extra power from the remag or the tec,(me). But it sounds great and its always good to give the cat a bit of exercise.

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 5 Apr 2005 6:26 pm

Thats how a full charged, fully functional Ricky horseshoe pickup reacts ...

The 1 meg pot is just da icin' ...

To each his own, though ...

Alan Keach · Post by **Alan Keach** » 5 Apr 2005 8:53 pm

rick might correct me however,you can get pots with different number of turns of the dial from 0 to 1meg.the more turns the less touchy it might be.i know it works on other electronics;not sure how it would effect tone etc.