As some of you may have seen, I managed to pick up a Gibson Thunderbird for a bargain price from a friend. It's in the white finish, which is apparently quite hard to find too. It was covered in stickers, which had been superglued on, and various other mods. Anyhow, after getting it restored, and sticking some new Rotosounds RBs on it, I gave it a whirl at a gig. During soundcheck, I was told to switch bass, as it simply sounded too boomy and lacked definition (infact, it sounded weak). I got home, spent a couple of hours fiddling, and played it again at band practice. However, it sounded like ass once again, lacking real balls in the midrange, which no amount of EQ seemed to fix. So, my question is, how does it square up to the other basses in the title? I have a love of Spector, simply the best basses on the planet in my eyes, however, I love the Thunderbird look. So I was instantly drawn to the Rex Brown, but then the Tbird Pro crossed my mind, with its mix of walnut and maple thru neck, and active electronics, how will it compare to its big brother?
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Gibson Thunderbird vs Epiphone Thunderbird Pro vs Spector Rex Brown MIK
- Thread starter LCMBassist
- Start date
I've never had any problems with my 'bird lacking definition, but the midrange is less pronounced than on a bass with traditional P or J pickups... I do normally play with either a 7-band EQ and a compressor, or the 11-band + comp on my SVT-3 to shape the midrange.
To me it sounds like the pickup height needs adjustment. I try to keep them as close to the strings as possible by finding the point where the strings no longer buzz on the pickups, then back the height off about -1/8 inch or so.
As for strings, I find that it's a story of the brighter the better - flatwounds and half-rounds don't give very good midrange I find.
It's all speculation at this point since the Epi T-bird Pro isn't even out yet, but I would imagine that the active Epi pickups would be a bit more middy and less "boomy" than the ceramic 'buckers on the Gibson. And with the onboard EQ, you'd probably be in better shape to control things.
That said, if you don't want your bird, I'd take it off your hands
To me it sounds like the pickup height needs adjustment. I try to keep them as close to the strings as possible by finding the point where the strings no longer buzz on the pickups, then back the height off about -1/8 inch or so.
As for strings, I find that it's a story of the brighter the better - flatwounds and half-rounds don't give very good midrange I find.
It's all speculation at this point since the Epi T-bird Pro isn't even out yet, but I would imagine that the active Epi pickups would be a bit more middy and less "boomy" than the ceramic 'buckers on the Gibson. And with the onboard EQ, you'd probably be in better shape to control things.
That said, if you don't want your bird, I'd take it off your hands
I've never had any problems with my 'bird lacking definition, but the midrange is less pronounced than on a bass with traditional P or J pickups... I do normally play with either a 7-band EQ and a compressor, or the 11-band + comp on my SVT-3 to shape the midrange.
To me it sounds like the pickup height needs adjustment. I try to keep them as close to the strings as possible by finding the point where the strings no longer buzz on the pickups, then back the height off about -1/8 inch or so.
As for strings, I find that it's a story of the brighter the better - flatwounds and half-rounds don't give very good midrange I find.
It's all speculation at this point since the Epi T-bird Pro isn't even out yet, but I would imagine that the active Epi pickups would be a bit more middy and less "boomy" than the ceramic 'buckers on the Gibson. And with the onboard EQ, you'd probably be in better shape to control things.
That said, if you don't want your bird, I'd take it off your hands
hmmm, strange. I use a Sansamp BDDI into an Alesis 30band graphic EQ, into a Peavey poweramp, into two ashdown 4x8 ABM cabs. I'll give adjusting the pickups a go. Otherwise I'm gonna get rid....
I wouldn't do that....you'd probably kick yourself in 5 years. Try raising the pickups. Lower the bass freqs and raise the migh mid freqs on your eq section.
I play my Gibby through a GK1001RB-II and it's not boomy at all. My High knob is at noon, High mid is all the way, Low mid is noon and Bass is cut all of the way. I run a Behringer BDI21through the effects loop with Level and Effect all of the way and the rest of the knobs at noon (or less for Drive and Presence....depending on room). I get a sem-grindy low mid thick tone with plenty of high presence to cut through.
- Mar 13, 2008
- 18,897
- 142,236
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist Mike Lull T Bass pickups, The Bass Shop, Seattle WA.
+1 to this I use a GK eq it about the same with DR rounds
with the bass dropped a bit, I play with a pick and get lots of definition.....Don't give up on it so soon
How is the Alesis 30 band EQ set? The Sansamp is going to hurt your 200hz-600hz range almost any way you set it. I think these two products could really be hurting your tone overall with the T-Bird. I think you need to try out the T-Bird on a standard amp head and cab setup and see if your tone improves overall.
I own 3 Tbirds, 1 is a 209 active Epiphone 2 is a 2018 Gibson Tbird 3 is a 2021 epiphone 60's vintage pro, now I installed the stllar tone tone stylers in all 3, talk abought defonition tons, I can not decide which one is My fave. they all kick ass...
while you're debating the costlier 'Birds, find a recent era bolt-on Epi (also looks vintagy stunning) for cheap and give it a whirl. if you can handle passives you might be done, I am.
