NBD - Yamaha TRBX305

[jjk2007]

Thanks for taking the time to describe the issues you encountered. I was curious because I haven't noticed any "quirkiness" with the preamp on my TRBX505 since I got it last April.

Yeah, I'm sure it was bad luck. I truthfully probably could have played either and been fine but Sweetwater has always been good to me and they were just like 'send it back and we'll take care of you'. Truth be told I wish I would have had them send me the 3rd one looking back but such is life. Maybe I'll get another some day. Enjoy yours and I'm sure it will hold up just fine.

 

[Maxdusty]

Thanks for sharing.

No problem. Those blade switches I guess do wear out sooner rather than later. One thing I should mention is that when the switch started to act up on me, there seemed to be minimal tonal difference between the settings that were working - it all sounded muddy to certain degrees, so I guess that's one sign to look out for. I thought at first the preamp was a goner but changing the switch fixed everything. For reference, should something like this happen to you, this is a picture of the blade switch on the TRBX305 before I replaced it (to make sure I soldered everything correctly). Unscrew the blade switch and there are seven wires to solder to the lugs on the replacement switch. What I would then do is to do them one by one ie. unsolder one wire from the old one and put on new and repeat this process with each wire as you can see there are two of each blue, red and white wires and didn't want to solder them in the wrong spots. lol Not really hard to do even for someone prone to soldering his own finger. It was as good as new.

 

[4ever4]

I got all of mine through Sweetwater......if you have any issues they should take good care of you.

Great.
Before I bought all from Musicisnsfriend.

 

[4ever4]

No problem. Those blade switches I guess do wear out sooner rather than later. One thing I should mention is that when the switch started to act up on me, there seemed to be minimal tonal difference between the settings that were working - it all sounded muddy to certain degrees, so I guess that's one sign to look out for. I thought at first the preamp was a goner but changing the switch fixed everything. For reference, should something like this happen to you, this is a picture of the blade switch on the TRBX305 before I replaced it (to make sure I soldered everything correctly). Unscrew the blade switch and there are seven wires to solder to the lugs on the replacement switch. What I would then do is to do them one by one ie. unsolder one wire from the old one and put on new and repeat this process with each wire as you can see there are two of each blue, red and white wires and didn't want to solder them in the wrong spots. lol Not really hard to do even for someone prone to soldering his own finger. It was as good as new.

View attachment 3268954

The best. Noted & thanks.
I should get that soon as spare.

 

[Crystalman85]

Hello @4ever4. I don't have either of the TRBX basses anymore. I had two of the 505's that both had strange preamp quirks so I returned them and went another direction. I kept the 305 for a little bit but ended up selling it too. GAS kept calling my name. It was a nice bass for the price though and I believe it should serve your daughter well. Here are some clips of it.

Cool tune on the youtube clip. kinda reminds me of wrathchild by iron maiden. it's a shame you no longer own a trbx. if you miss it, you can always buy it again. that's what I did.

 

[jjk2007]

Cool tune on the youtube clip. kinda reminds me of wrathchild by iron maiden. it's a shame you no longer own a trbx. if you miss it, you can always buy it again. that's what I did.

Thanks man. That was Just Got Paid by ZZ Top. Maybe if I find a good deal on one I'll make the purchase.

 

[Crystalman85]

Thanks man. That was Just Got Paid by ZZ Top. Maybe if I find a good deal on one I'll make the purchase.

Really?...zz top themselves? that's cool. I know a zz top tribute band in my hometown of chicago and they made an appearance on world's greatest tribute bands on spike tv.

As for the trbx305, you can find one on any online music store. musician's friend and zzounds would be a good start. you can also get one on reverb.com.

 

[JakesAy]

I had to change the preamp to an ibanez talman 3 band bass preamp with active passive slide switch and a 3 way mid frequency switch... works great now...I have more control over the tone... It's loud in passive mode as well... Installed the yamaha preamp in a box .. works well with jazz basses or basses with single coils than humbuckers