Overall Comments

I may not have a trained enough ear yet to know what I'm hearing but the tone enhancer has seemed to really help the sound of my Goodtime. The only problem I have with it is that it seems to have over-ridden the effectiveness of Mike's Banjo Mute. My wife and kids seem to think my banjo is now much louder, which to them is a bad thing!

Overall Rating

10

Overall Comments

I received the brass tone enhancer as part of a free trial offer. Initially, I installed the tone enhancer in my Lida aluminum tone ring banjo and after experimenting for about an hour with the placement and rotation I came to the conclusion that though it did make a subtle difference it was probably not enough for anyone to really notice beside myself.

Soon after that I purchased a Flinthill archtop (similar to a RK-80A..) and wanted to wait to write this review until I had a chance to try the tone enhancer in that banjo. I finally had a chance to try it out last weekend and I can say that it made a pretty big difference. It really fills out and kind of "boosts" the overall sound. The biggest difference that I notice is in the lower end of the tone especially when picking closer to the neck. I can now feel some vibrations from the lower notes through the resonator against my stomach while playing which is totally new to me. Picking closer to the neck originally had a duller tone but now sounds noticeably richer and picking closer to the bridge sounds a little bit fuller as well. With the noticeably better lows my archtop now has a better useable range as I avoided playing close to the neck before due to the dullness of the tone.

My banjo still sounds like my banjo just a little better. Overall, I would compare the difference to that made in going from a set of tarnished old strings to a brand new set, or light strings to medium or vice versa. For me that is pretty significant. My wife notices it too and said that it sounds louder. I guess it depends on the banjo, and probably on a lot of set up issues as well but in my current banjo it is great. I'm no expert by any stretch so take this as it is, a review from a random banjo player who may or may not know what he is talking about.

Overall Rating

10

Overall Comments

I bought this tone enhancer to (hopefully) help the tone of my 7 banjos to sound as great as possible. After talking with Doug Campbell about the tweaking of this accessory, I experimented with it to move it around the inside of the resonator 1/4 inch at a time to find the optimum sound I could get from each banjo. When I found the "sweetest sound" in the banjo I was working with I'd turn the enhancer 90 degrees and again listen to hear whether the tone was better or not. I'd keep doing this till I achieved the best sound. I then marked the top and bottom of the position on the inside of the resonator where the enhancer would rest permanently and applied the velcro piece for the permanent attachment.
To save moving the enhancer from banjo to banjo, I just ordered 6 more tone enhancers so I can have one in each banjo. I'd recommend this item for all banjo pickers to get optimum sound from your banjo.
Tom Schiltz

Overall Rating

10