For sale Pre Gibson Tobias Classic 5

What year is it

I believe 1991

PRE AMP PICTURE PLEASE,,,,

Very nice Greg. WTMB or TCT inside?

That's one really nice bass. Someone will be a lucky next owner.

It is an awesome bass. I am 2nd owner

Original case?

Yes

Any sound clips?

Unfortunately, no

I can only say, that this is one of the best sounding Tobias I have ever owned

Greg, is that a TCT pre amp? I can't tell by the picture. Also is it a Vol/Blend or Vol/Vol?

Vol / blend

WTMB

I can't find WTMB on Bartolini's website, but I do see NTMB.

WTMB is a prototype preamp Mike and team were testing toward the end. You won't find info on it from Bartolini as it was an unpublished product. My #1969 has a WTMB.

Official Tobias Club

I have owned several Classic 5s and still own a Basic 5 (708), and this bass has incredible tone.

The WTMB rocks.

The WTMB used in Mike's basses is identical to a TCT except that it has a lower input impedance and first stage bias so that it isn't overdriven by the dual buffer. The buffer is for isolation of the pickups from each-other. We do this in cases where the pickups have a fairly low output and wide frequency response - it makes them effectively active pickups. When the frequency response is wide and the output is low, the upper frequencies can do a lot of phase cancellation resulting in a thin tone. The buffers are voltage controlled with a relatively high input impedance, so they isolate the capacitance from each pickup in order to hold up the high frequencies. So it isn't as much about volume level at blend center as it is about voice consistency for each pickup throughout the blend range - although it helps with that as well for the same reasons at lower frequencies.