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Official Zon Club Part 5

#3,381
A photographer, I am not. I thought I would share some pictures of the TJ6 I received this week. Here are the specs:

  • Katalox top
  • Alder body
  • Bartolini CX pickups
  • Rear mounted controls
  • Push/pull coil tap
I'm thrilled so far. Super playability. Natural compression and sustain from this is perfect. Piano like clarity and note separation.

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#3,382
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#3,385
kesslari said:
That's beautiful. I especially love the wood pickup covers. I think I love the rear mounted controls (I'd have to try it to know). It's a really cool idea.
Enjoy it fully.
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Thank you!

I’m not much of a knob twiddler and have had some instances of bumping a knob mid recording an album. This helps alleviate some of that anxiety. I had it on a fretless Joe made me and loved it. The push pull coil tap gets me a little on the fly tweaking if I need.
 
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#3,389
kesslari said:
That's beautiful. I especially love the wood pickup covers. I think I love the rear mounted controls (I'd have to try it to know). It's a really cool idea.
Enjoy it fully.
Click to expand...
I have a fretless TJ6 with this feature, it took some dialing in but the controls are now set for good -- at least for live performances.
 
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#3,391
Hi all, very long time lurker, very rare poster here!

I've just picked up a 20 year old Sonus 5/2 and was hoping if someone could ID the preamp for me, as well as give me a clue as to how the 9v battery would originally have been housed or enclosed! I'm scratching my head.

Bass sounds excellent, although the mid control very quickly brings the total perceived output down when reduced - is this normal? Seems to function ok otherwise (and it has push/pull mid, less pronounced effect when pulled).

Any info very gratefully received! Thanks 🙏
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#3,393
mokl said:
View attachment 7380920
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That looks to me like a bartolini preamp, but one of those black modules should say what it is on the side. The battery would have been originally in a thin foam sheath, held in place by a metal clip that would be screwed into the body right at the top of that route, but that big black module is now in the way. I assume this was modified by one of its previous owners. The dual module looks like it might be similar to an MTD preamp, with that smaller module being a pre-preamp if those pickups are lo-Z and somewhat low output without having a booster. Just a guess tho.
 
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#3,394
mokl said:
Hi all, very long time lurker, very rare poster here!

I've just picked up a 20 year old Sonus 5/2 and was hoping if someone could ID the preamp for me, as well as give me a clue as to how the 9v battery would originally have been housed or enclosed! I'm scratching my head.

Bass sounds excellent, although the mid control very quickly brings the total perceived output down when reduced - is this normal? Seems to function ok otherwise (and it has push/pull mid, less pronounced effect when pulled).

Any info very gratefully received! Thanks 🙏
View attachment 7380919
Click to expand...

mokl said:
View attachment 7380920
Click to expand...
The battery on all three of the Zons I had (fretless '97 Sonus Special 5, '98 Sonus 5/1, and '99 fretless Sonus 5/1) were just wrapped in thin foam and stuffed in a convenient location (no battery clips). I added battery clips on my own.
 
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#3,396
mokl said:
Thanks for the advice, turns out it's a Bartolini NTMB 918F in there. All original as far as I can see
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and I'm a DAMN LIAR. Jeff Scott speaks the truth. lol. I was right about the foam, wrong about the clip and location. Interesting tho... we have the same preamp, but it's mounted differently. Probably because I have a different knob config. I've got stacked bass/treble, a NON push/pull mid, but a three position mid switch.

1764803031871.png
 
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#3,397
Vic said:
and I'm a DAMN LIAR. Jeff Scott speaks the truth. lol. I was right about the foam, wrong about the clip and location. Interesting tho... we have the same preamp, but it's mounted differently. Probably because I have a different knob config. I've got stacked bass/treble, a NON push/pull mid, but a three position mid switch.

View attachment 7381350
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Thanks!

Do you find you need to use mid- cut sparingly, otherwise the overall volume attenuation is quite dramatic? I think mine is functioning ok, but I'm not used to the pre.
 
#3,398
mokl said:
Thanks!

Do you find you need to use mid- cut sparingly, otherwise the overall volume attenuation is quite dramatic? I think mine is functioning ok, but I'm not used to the pre.
Click to expand...
I generally use preamps sparingly anyway, so I guess the answer is yes. But also keep in mind you can also boost bass/treble to offset a gain drop from cutting mids.

FWIW, my bass has totally different pickups tho... it has the J style pickups. At least for my tonal prefs, it sounds so damn good without using the preamp (my core rule of instrument retention), I only use the preamp to very modestly bump or cut something based on pickup blend setting and the music I'm playing.

For example, if I'm playing something growly like Journey, I'll favor the bridge, and the more I go towards soloing the bridge, the more I might bump the bass and low-mid or mid-mid to put a little extra girth under that cutting growl of the bridge pickup natively.

If I'm playing more of a classic rock/blues kinda thing, favoring or soloing the neck pickup, I might bump the mid-mid or hi-mid just a bit to help add some mix cutting presence to the big round sound... again tho, this can also be done by incorporating some of the bridge pickup, so it really gets into nuance more than hard/fast rules.

In general, there's a LOT you can do by just changing the blend setting and where you are plucking (closer to the bridge or closer to the neck) that make a MASSIVE difference in bloom or bite without even using the preamp.

my bottom line is, i want the bass to sound amazing without touching anything. if i want to vary my tone, i start with blend and right hand position. if i need a little more/less of something, THEN I use the preamp.

hope this diatribe helps. lol
 
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#3,399
I am preparing to sell my Sonus 5 fretless and need a bit of help, please.

First of all, the serial number is stamped and located on the body next to the neck. Does the s/n indicate the build date?
It is a Sonus but I'm not certain which model. It has two Bartolini "J" type pickups. I seem to recall that the Sonus 5/2 had soapbar pick ups.

Any assistance would be much appreciated.

1765678270984.png
 
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#3,400
Jerry J said:
I am preparing to sell my Sonus 5 fretless and need a bit of help, please.

First of all, the serial number is stamped and located on the body next to the neck. Does the s/n indicate the build date?
It is a Sonus but I'm not certain which model. It has two Bartolini "J" type pickups. I seem to recall that the Sonus 5/2 had soapbar pick ups.

Any assistance would be much appreciated.

View attachment 7388276
Click to expand...

I'm only going to guess but the top looks like it could be Bubinga and if that's case it would be a Sonus Special, do you happen to remember what the top wood was when you purchased the instrument?
 
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