Product: Fender TBX Tone Control
Price Paid: USD 8.50
Submitted
01/29/2008
at
08:21pm
by
justrc
Ease of Use
:
5
This is the Fender TBX (tone-bass expander) tone control. Stock this control is rather lacking in performance. Rating is for "as is" but a 10 after doing the Blue Guitar mod.
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Manual comes with control as well as instalation instructions.
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Sound Quality
:
5
Came stadard on my '96 Deluxe Strat Plus.
Works lousy and sound crummy due to the way Fender wired the 82k resistor. Do the mod!
The 82k resistor works well wity active circuits such as found on the Eric Clapton model Strat.
Results are the same with tube and SS amps.
You won't sound like Clapton as he uses an active mid-boost circuit. Limits the use of this tone on bridge & mid pick up.
From the dentent (5) to zero it works like a regular tone. However, the 82k resiter is still in the circuit at the detent rather than full by-pass. From the deten to 10 it's abolute crap and way too ear shatteringly bright. Do the mod!
Reliability
:
5
Yeah, it works but only marginal. Do the mod!
Customer Support
:
5
Overall Fender is great but regarding the TBX they are totally clueless.
Overall Rating
:
5
Fender for whatever reason has sabotaged their TBX control by using the 82k resistor and wiring in series with the .022 mfd cap. I did the TBX mod listed on the Blue Guitar website:
http--www.blueguitar.org-new-schem-_gtr-tbx-mods_and_details.pdf.
This changes the 82k series resistor to 120k and wired series parallel with the .022 cap which allows the TBX to function flawlessly with passive pickups. About .25 for the resistor and a few minutes time to resolder. A "5" as delivered but a "10" after the mod. Go to the above website, download the instruction sheet, and DO THE MOD!!! Your Strat Plus will reward you with incredilble variations of tonal bliss.
