Tobias Growler diagram----help!

[JMBassist]

Need the electric diagram for both pre-Gibson and Gibson Tobias Growler 5 basses.

Can anyone tell me how can I get these diagrams? I've contacted Gibson, but they dont' have it (at least was their answer...).

Thanks

[JMBassist]

Anyone?

[G RICH 5]

FYI-- The growler line is all Gibson era. The original models had the pair of stack pots, and the newer ones have the 3 band eq. I seem to recall the a gibson site had had a sort of "vintage" section you may be able to get info from. Have you tried just googleing the diagrams?

[JMBassist]

Hi thanks for the update.

Yes, i've tried do google on this, but no luck...even on bartolini's site.

[mikezimmerman]

It used to be on their site, but Bart no longer lists the dual EQ preamp that was used in the original Growler. However, the Zon Sonus Studio still uses it (or a variation of it)--Bartolini may make it exclusively for Zon now. They call it the "ZB6", and I'm pretty sure that was not the original name. You might contact Zon and see if they can get you a wiring diagram, or you might try and contact Batolini and ask them about the "ZB6".

That would be for wiring digrams showing you how to hook the preamp up, of course.

I suspect the current Growler just uses a standard Bart NTMB 3-band, with the two halves of the pickup going to the blend as iff they were separate pickups.

Mike

[JMBassist]

Thanks Mike, I'll check this in detail.

Actually I also believe that the Growler uses a simply 3 Eq pre.

I have one of these basses and dont like its sound, so what i'm trying to do is to make some changes and transform it in a "pre" Gibson version.

Not sure if I can

[4StringTheorist]

From what I recall the Growler was a purely Gibson era invention. I nearly bought one once. It had the quad coil "two pickups in one housing", separate stacked bass/treble and mid switch per pickup.

Looks like that Zon ZB6 is close to the exact thing.

[JMBassist]

I was checking and, yes it seems to be similar to Zon, but not to ZB6. It has the same controls as the ZB5 and the difference is the pre is working on 9V instead of 2x9V as in my Tobias.
I'll try to install a double switch to try to connect the pickup in paralell or serial configuration, the sound should be different depending on this configuration.
Appart this I'll try to change the capacitors on the mid range switch to get different sounds following the diagrams available on Bartolini's site.

Perhaps I can make it a better bass...

[JMBassist]

Hi people.

After all this time I'm coming back to this issue!

I've tryed all possible configurations on my Tobias (changing capacitors, working with parallel or serie pups) the sound is a little better but far away from what I want.
I bought a MTD Z5 some weeks ago and the sound is a lot better than the tobias.

So my last affort to give Tobias some "life" is to replace the pre-amp.

I'm thinking about replacing the Bart. ntmb 918f by a Aguilar OBP-3.

Whats your opinions?

[4StringTheorist]

Originally Posted by JMBassist

Hi people.

After all this time I'm coming back to this issue!

I've tryed all possible configurations on my Tobias (changing capacitors, working with parallel or serie pups) the sound is a little better but far away from what I want.
I bought a MTD Z5 some weeks ago and the sound is a lot better than the tobias.

So my last affort to give Tobias some "life" is to replace the pre-amp.

I'm thinking about replacing the Bart. ntmb 918f by a Aguilar OBP-3.

Whats your opinions?

It's sad to see a wholesale electronics swapout on that bass. The electronics package on that one is unique, really cool. The one I nearly bought was not quite what I wanted at the time tonally, but dang it was a slap monster! lol.

If you're in love with the instrument playability and otherwise though, and all it needs is an electronics change I suppose you oughta go for it.

[JMBassist]

yes, actually it's a pitty to replace the bart. preamp, but I need a more deep and punchy sound. This pre is quite good for slap but the overall tone sucks...