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Modulus Mob

#4,704
Bob_Ross said:
Mid-80s Modulus catalogs (such as they were) often featured a picture of that exact Quantum 6-string, w the three Bart's and three on/off toggle switches. It's not a "TBX", just a Quantum-6.
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Well, there always seems some confusion on this model, here is what I know: The following description was taken from Elderly Instruments when they were selling a 4 string version that looked just like mine.
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"This TBX is one of the rarest and most sought after basses ever made my Modulus. Under Geoff Gould's supervision when he was with Modulus, these were handmade by 1 person. They had a small specialized team that worked on these exclusively. Due to the prohibitive cost to do so, these neck through TBXs were never put into full production. While all Modulus basses are a pleasure to play and sound great, there is something very special and unique in these neck through TBXs. When I last spoke with Modulus about them I was told there were around 90 six string TBXs made, 85 five strings, but only 11 four strings. Without any exaggeration, this may very well be the only chance you have to purchase one.

"This is an early one. I bought it from the original owner who said he bought it in 1983. The serial number starts with an 88 though which, on the other Modulus bassses I've played, would indicate a production date of 1988, It ends in 83, so I imagine the original owner is correct in dating it as an '83.

"The top wood is a lovely piece of cocobolo - one of my personal favorites. This is the same wood favored by Mike Gordon and Phil Lesh in their TBXs. I believe the back is alder, with a purpleheart strip covering the front of the neck where it passes through the body. It has been well loved and played over the years. While it clearly was never abused, there are signs of its use in various spots in the finish. I tried to show a couple of the more dramatic ones in my pictures below.

"The EMG P/J pickup configuration offers a wide pallette of useful tones, and the volume, pan, and stacked treble/bass controls makes quick on the fly adjustments a snap. The winner of this remarkable bass will NOT be disappointed. Includes its original Modulus hard shell case. Take a close look at my photos below and don't..."
 
#4,705
So here is the deal. I had an '89 Modulus that looked exactly like that Q6. Coco top with the blonde strip on the side JUST like that. Gold hardware. Active EMGs. Neck-thru. When I had it (about 4-5 years ago) I emailed Geoff Gould and he told me it was not a TBX...although it was a neckthru. It was a pre-TBX...as a TBX really wasn't branded as such until '91 or '92 if I remember correctly. So while they did have neck-thru basses in the 80s...they were not technically TBX basses. Anyone claiming otherwise is wrong. Geoff also told me that the neck-thru Modulus basses from the 80s were very rare.....mine was one of 6 or so and was supposedly from the same mold as Phil Lesh's neck-thru.
 
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#4,706
I sent pic's of my Bassstar 5 string neck thru to Geoff. I had hoped he would have more to say about it other than it was a pre-quantum 5 string on a 4 string platform. Since mine is also a neck through, but only a two pickup version of these Pre-TBX models, mine only confuses things with the name on mine being a Bassstar 5, which weren't supposed to exist. Wow.. more information just gets more confusing
 
#4,708
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#4,711
sleepy_monkey said:
So here is the deal. I had an '89 Modulus that looked exactly like that Q6. Coco top with the blonde strip on the side JUST like that. Gold hardware. Active EMGs. Neck-thru. When I had it (about 4-5 years ago) I emailed Geoff Gould and he told me it was not a TBX...although it was a neckthru. It was a pre-TBX...as a TBX really wasn't branded as such until '91 or '92 if I remember correctly. So while they did have neck-thru basses in the 80s...they were not technically TBX basses. Anyone claiming otherwise is wrong. Geoff also told me that the neck-thru Modulus basses from the 80s were very rare.....mine was one of 6 or so and was supposedly from the same mold as Phil Lesh's neck-thru.
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The Elderly piece also says it's a "pre-TBX" and was not in production. So they agree with Geoff as well. So the only one not agreeing here is you, because you say a "pre-TBX" is really a Q6! So Modulus was kind of loose with the model names. Who cares? It is what it is.
 
#4,712
bassbenj said:
The Elderly piece also says it's a "pre-TBX" and was not in production. So they agree with Geoff as well. So the only one not agreeing here is you, because you say a "pre-TBX" is really a Q6! So Modulus was kind of loose with the model names. Who cares? It is what it is.
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Easy there man. Just throwing info out as it was relayed to me. Was just trying to help. I thought we were referring to an ad where they were misinterpreting a bass. Me calling that a Q6 might have had something to do with the several New Belgium Snapshot I had. Anyway....carry on and Happy Thanksgiving
 
#4,717
#4,718
Inertialsky said:
Can anyone confirm if the flat top control knobs from allparts.com are an exact match to the original factory knobs on late model Bartolini equipped Modulus?

These would be for volume and balance
http://www.allparts.com/MK-0115-003-Black-Barrel-Knobs_p_2271.html

And these for the stacked EQ
http://www.allparts.com/MK-3320-003-Black-Stacked-Knobs_p_2340.html

Are these a perfect match or just similar design?
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Yes sir, this topic came up recently. I had a stripped balance knob on my 2004 Q5 and Modulus told me to go through All Parts (a couple years ago) and it is perfect. I even bought another one as a back up. It was a perfect match for me, I presume it would be the same for you.
 

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