After reading this thread, and seeing the TBX described as a "tone-killing, plastic-sounding piece of marketing BS," I was motivated to order a Fender 250k no load pot (.022 cap included) and will replace the TBX with it.
I'm no expert on Strat wiring, so my question is, though the TBX pot controls the bridge and middle pickups, are all three pickups affected by the TBX circuit? For sure, all three pickups on my Strat have that layer of brittle over them.
hey, laces have an annoying habit of actually sounding pretty good in context.I'm keeping the Lace Sensors in (don't yell at me!), but I was wondering if anyone had a suggestion for a replacement for the TBX knob. I'll probably stick with a 250K pot, but I'm not sure about a resistor value.
I've tried that. I usually keep that pot right at the notch at 5, only because, to my ears, anything above or below is unusable.agreed. before bothering with all that, try turning that TBX down a little, maybe even to the halfway "notch" in its travel, to get a mellower tone.
The no load pot is billed as a normal 250k pot from 0-9, with 10 being a simple bypass switch which takes the pot out of the circuit. You're saying, on 9, that pot doesn't behave like a normal pot would on 10?but y'know, ol' john has a point. you never get the classic tone of a 250k pot on "10", you just get the brighter unloaded tone up high, and an overly darkened tone at the notch. IMO, the "no-load" has the same issue, either it's out of the circuit (bright) or below 250k (dark).
The problem is there with all three pickups, all five combinations. That's why I asked if the whole curcuit is affected by the TBX, because even the neck pup has that plastic sound. It sounded that way when I had the stock Fender pups in there, as well as other previous pickup experiments. The TBX is the only thing in that guitar that is "unconventional," so for the sake of experiment, I'll remove it and see what happens. I never used it in the way Fender wanted me to anyway -- never kept it set past 5 -- so no harm done, really.I can't say exactly if the TBX is the cause for the brittle and tiny sound you are getting out of your pickups. Are you experiencing this when you select a certain pickup or if you are in the 2 and 4 positions? If it's in the 2 and 4 positions, then your pickups are out of phase. If not, then it can be an array of possible problems...but naturally, I don't see that being the TBX's problem unless it's a faulty pot.
hey, laces have an annoying habit of actually sounding pretty good in context.
what resistor? with a normal tone pot, there is no resistor.
if you mean capacitor, try .02uF for hot humbucker-types and .05 for vintage fender pickups.
pretty sure that a no-load on "9" would be like a regular 250k on "9".The no load pot is billed as a normal 250k pot from 0-9, with 10 being a simple bypass switch which takes the pot out of the circuit. You're saying, on 9, that pot doesn't behave like a normal pot would on 10?
on stock american standards, the tbx only affected the middle and bridge pickups. (of course, if you're set to N+M, then both tone pots will affect that setting.)The problem is there with all three pickups, all five combinations. That's why I asked if the whole curcuit is affected by the TBX, because even the neck pup has that plastic sound. It sounded that way when I had the stock Fender pups in there, as well as other previous pickup experiments.