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ToneMonster Pre., Is it really worth it?

madjazzbass

madjazzbass

Jan 5, 2014
2,660
1,894
Earth
#1
Hey TB, Here we see a "damaged" Tonemonster on board preamp, damaged by of course, Yours truely:laugh: Now; I do a "little" soldering... enough to save me the money I'd have to pay someone else to do it for me; but when it comes to doing any kind of solder repair onto these type of "small circuit boards", I believe a certain type of "tool"/equipment is needed ... if I'm not mistaken. I don't know which wires came from where on the board, So I'm wondering if it'd be even worth it to have it repaired? What say the experts? Trash it? Have it repaired?
20231212_155038.jpg
 
#6
kodiakblair said:
Buy another and a Desolder pump.

Use the new one as the guide to repair this one :)

If you don't fancy buying another, study the photos on Ty's Guitar Fuel website and just copy the wire positions :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Well, There's a thought that would've Never occurred to me, Thanks Bro'. ... come to think about it, Thanks, but I'm not sure how to solder onto a circuit board, I'm not THAT good. It's not that important at the moment, just going through some old stuff and "tinkering" :D
 
#11
This is not like attaching tiny components to an intricate board... these are pretty easy to repair and you can do it with a regular soldering iron, with what I'd call a "reasonable amount of care."

Not sure on this myself, but if this was on my bench, what appears to have happened was this ripped off of this:

Screenshot 2023-12-13 at 8.41.05 AM.jpg


If that's the case (and yes, check wiring diagrams or pics online first), I'd undo the twisted portion and isolate what needs to be soldered back on.
- You'd use the iron to soften that part on the board and remove the broken off section of wire, exposing the hole.
- Tin the other end that is supposed to go back into it (heat it up and add solder to the newly exposed section of wire).
- Gently heat the hole area while you insert the tinned section of wire, so it makes good contact and then add more solder to properly engage that point into the connection.

If that doesn't fix it and you don't want to mess with it any further, then remove the preamp and replace it with another one. Tone Monster makes pretty decent stuff for the money. I've been happier with some of their offerings than a number of "fancier" preamps which don't have some of the features these do.
(The ones with gain boost onboard are really helpful to make "timid" output basses much more effective).
 
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#12
Also, looking at it further, the "broken lead" is attached to a point on the board marked "Balance -" which means that it likely just needs to connect to the blend pot where the "ground" attaches.
Another way to look at that is, there's basically 2 connections coming from the blend pot, one of them is the positive signal out and the other is the ground. Connect that section of the board to the ground section of the blend and it should fix that connection, however you choose to do it.

Not sure if that is the entirety of the issue, but it's something to start with.
 
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#14
Any competent repair person could unsolder that, and in my case, I'd do it free.
I own two Tone Moster preamps installed in basses. I also have one of their passive 'tone-styler' type varitones installed in my passive P-bass. These are good quality preamps, made in Korea. Reasonably priced, as well.
 
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#15
rojo412 said:
This is not like attaching tiny components to an intricate board... these are pretty easy to repair and you can do it with a regular soldering iron, with what I'd call a "reasonable amount of care."

Not sure on this myself, but if this was on my bench, what appears to have happened was this ripped off of this:

View attachment 5281694

If that's the case (and yes, check wiring diagrams or pics online first), I'd undo the twisted portion and isolate what needs to be soldered back on.
- You'd use the iron to soften that part on the board and remove the broken off section of wire, exposing the hole.
- Tin the other end that is supposed to go back into it (heat it up and add solder to the newly exposed section of wire).
- Gently heat the hole area while you insert the tinned section of wire, so it makes good contact and then add more solder to properly engage that point into the connection.

If that doesn't fix it and you don't want to mess with it any further, then remove the preamp and replace it with another one. Tone Monster makes pretty decent stuff for the money. I've been happier with some of their offerings than a number of "fancier" preamps which don't have some of the features these do.
(The ones with gain boost onboard are really helpful to make "timid" output basses much more effective).
Click to expand...

Looks more like the red wire broke off (cropped out of this image, look at the OP), looks lonesome there “up north”, correct length to contact if flipped to the south.
 
#16
I really wouldn't mind seeing a wider shot of this whole thing, to make more accurate calls.
Red, I would have thought "battery" but I honestly can't tell what else is going on with the focus on this pot.
(Great close shot of that though! Definitely like the detail it is capable of.)

(EDIT: I think this IS the blend pot?)
 
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