So I traded my 02 schecter elite 5 for a 11 epiphone thunderbird iv pro.
Quick and dirty. Played the 5 for two months, just never took. It's a great bass, but never really acheived my goals with it. My B was just too floppy, although tighter than most. Sound was solid. In the end I wanted to play E to C tuning without tuning and it just wasn't practical for my goals. My fat polish sausage fingers just couldn't make it work, and it just was never as fun or as expressive as a 4 is for me.
So my quick rundown of my epiphone thunderbird iv pro.
I love the active pickups. I adjusted the neck pickup to tilt slighty higher to the E. I feel comfortable usually playing between the pickups and bounce around in there to adjust my sound. The pad switch on the amp I can play a little hard or soft and it really impacts the note quality.
Construction is solid and it feels great for the rock/metal I am fond of playing. The occasional pop song higher up towards D and G sings without sounding tinny or too bright.
As per the original owner who used it for a decoration for years the rounds are stock. I believe him. They are dirty as hell and give me the the black lung every time I play, pop. Coming from flats they aren't as tight as I prefer, but from E to D tunings they aren't bad and I really love the sound. Playing currently with the dunlop gator grips 2 mm, they are bright without giving me too much pick noise. Does anyone know what strings they are? I really like them and would hate to break one without knowing how to replace them.
In the end I realize at this point in my journey I would rather have 2 (or 3) cheaper rigs dialed in perfectly, for feel, than have one super sexy one. I would rather have all the basses played the way I want to vs playing them the way they need to be played.
At at 300 bucks a pop used the epiphone thunderbird iv pro with a little patience I could afford that, vs waiting for a super perfect gibson or fender.
Hope this helps anyone out there that is contemplating either of these great basses.
Quick and dirty. Played the 5 for two months, just never took. It's a great bass, but never really acheived my goals with it. My B was just too floppy, although tighter than most. Sound was solid. In the end I wanted to play E to C tuning without tuning and it just wasn't practical for my goals. My fat polish sausage fingers just couldn't make it work, and it just was never as fun or as expressive as a 4 is for me.
So my quick rundown of my epiphone thunderbird iv pro.
I love the active pickups. I adjusted the neck pickup to tilt slighty higher to the E. I feel comfortable usually playing between the pickups and bounce around in there to adjust my sound. The pad switch on the amp I can play a little hard or soft and it really impacts the note quality.
Construction is solid and it feels great for the rock/metal I am fond of playing. The occasional pop song higher up towards D and G sings without sounding tinny or too bright.
As per the original owner who used it for a decoration for years the rounds are stock. I believe him. They are dirty as hell and give me the the black lung every time I play, pop. Coming from flats they aren't as tight as I prefer, but from E to D tunings they aren't bad and I really love the sound. Playing currently with the dunlop gator grips 2 mm, they are bright without giving me too much pick noise. Does anyone know what strings they are? I really like them and would hate to break one without knowing how to replace them.
In the end I realize at this point in my journey I would rather have 2 (or 3) cheaper rigs dialed in perfectly, for feel, than have one super sexy one. I would rather have all the basses played the way I want to vs playing them the way they need to be played.
At at 300 bucks a pop used the epiphone thunderbird iv pro with a little patience I could afford that, vs waiting for a super perfect gibson or fender.
Hope this helps anyone out there that is contemplating either of these great basses.
