My new Thunderbird.....some improvements....some questions

[bazzanderson]

Cool...will do. I'm dropping it off today after work.
I really wanted to try that Krist Novaselic sig bass. I have a PJ bass and J bass (wired in series) as well and love bouncing between the three. The Tbird (best playing bass I've owned) is for local shows mostly and the PJ and Jazz travel whenever we play outside of Austin.

Austin fortunately has a great music scene BUT there are so many bands/musicians in town that no one makes any money doing original music (unless it's Texas blues or country). I play in a punk(ish) band and that scene is inundated with youguns who will play for free so that means no money for us locally. Oh well.

 

[spego]

The Novaselic bass would probably fit the bill for a punkish rock band IMO. It cuts really well. It also had EMG's in it too and I think that made a difference.

We used to have a good cover band scene here for years.....hell I knew a lot of guys that didn't work jobs and just did that.....but not anymore. At least you're playing your own stuff anyway.....enjoy!

My buddy just got home from down there....he had a blast and said there was music everywhere he went. He loved it.

 

[Mike A]

I put my end strap pin on the wing of all my 'birds! Got to.

 

[bazzanderson]

he's right about that. Pretty much any kind of music you want to hear, 7 days/nights a week. It's almost TOO much!

 

[spego]

I've gotta get down there some day and check it out. I was in NOLA this time last year and I LOVED it! Music everywhere and just so interesting.

 

[bazzanderson]

Got my bird back with the 35CS in mid and 35DC in bridge, wired just VVT. Sounds better than ever. Cuts through better for sure but still has the low mid or sub hump (even with bass and low mids cut on my amp and bass cut on my VT pedal). I'll be getting a Mooer type 5-band EQ in a few days to lower the bass and cut through even better. The new EMGs with both pickups on full have a slightly nasaly midrange quality similar to a musicman but with less highs and more lows (too much, but all pickups I've put in the Thunderbird.....were bass heavy due to the mahogany construction I'm thinking).

 

[spego]

That's what I've experienced too because of the body..... Bassy/loose low end. I'm sure you could tighten that up with an eq like you said.

 

[bazzanderson]

that's just what the 5-band EQ did. Totally did the trick. The new EMG pickups got the Thunderbird 95% of the way there and the 5-band EQ (used for the 1st time) totally did it. I cut 62.5hz almost all the way (just a tad above zero), cut 125 but not as much as 62.5, left 500 and 1K at flat and totally cut 4K. Punch-ass fingerstyle tone. Can't wait to play it out for the next local show. The thunderbird doesn't travel for out of town shows though.....I might change this but as it stands my ESP LTD FB204 and my parts jazz bass are my out of town basses.

 

[spego]

Sounds like you got then! Great work and thanks for sharing. I'm sure your experimenting will help someone else in the future doing the same. Great addition to the topic!