Roger McGuinn

How did you recreate your compressed studio tone onstage back in the days when stompboxes were in their infancy?

I never did. Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane, who also played a Rickenbacker 12, turned me on to the** Vox Treble Booster** in 1966. I took the Rick apart and installed it in the guitar. It really was an outboard box that gave me some gain, but no compression. Later, we got a rack compressor that we used on gigs, but in the early days, I couldn’t get compression onstage until we got that rack. I tried all the compressors available, including the Dyna-Comp and the Boss, but didn’t like any of them. Not until Rickenbacker designed my signature guitar with the built-in compressor, did I find one that worked for me.

When Rickenbacker stopped producing your signature guitar, that compressor was discontinued along with the guitar. I’m surprised they never marketed a stompbox version of it.

It was the best sounding compressor I ever used until the Janglebox came along. I suppose it was because Rickenbacker is not in the effects business. I did the entire Back From Rio album with that Rick compressor. The Janglebox is now the bestsounding compressor on the market in my opinion—I use it all the time. It’s clean and quiet, and it sounds very close to the built-in one I have in the 370/12/RM. As far as that guitar goes, they produced a thousand and sold every one. John Hall won’t reissue it because he wants to keep the collectible mystique alive, I suppose, but I wish he would reissue it.

When Rickenbacker stopped producing your signature guitar, that compressor was discontinued along with the guitar. I’m surprised they never marketed a stompbox version of it.

It was the best sounding compressor I ever used until the Janglebox came along. I suppose it was because Rickenbacker is not in the effects business. I did the entire Back From Rio album with that Rick compressor. The Janglebox is now the bestsounding compressor on the market in my opinion—I use it all the time. It’s clean and quiet, and it sounds very close to the built-in one I have in the 370/12/RM. As far as that guitar goes, they produced a thousand and sold every one. John Hall won’t reissue it because he wants to keep the collectible mystique alive, I suppose, but I wish he would reissue it.