Thunderbird Club

[MCF]

Pioneer 737, BIC direct drive turn table, Wollensak tape deck, and Infinity Transmission Line Columns. I was 16 as I had to save a bit longer...Still have everything except the Pioneer. Sold it for an Onkyo 7+2 just a few years ago.

Nice. That Onkyo is excellent. My BIC died about 10 years ago. But it was upgraded to a Technics many years before that. I also have an old school pioneer direct drive table with an extra shell in my office that is really nice.

 

[GonePlaid]

From a Canadian perspective, having used a lot of Traynor gear over the years: Traynor gear is well made and sturdy.
It does the job, but most of it just sounds ok.

I have seen an old powered PA mixer run in light rain for hours at less than 1.6 ohms when it should have been at 4 minimum.
Sound quality? Meh, even when new.
That said, newer Yorkville Elite PA stuff is great. Nicer sounding than equivalent Mackie products, but not QSC.

For bass amps, the only stand-outs I’ve come across (before the current tube offering) were the Monoblock and the Bassmaster 800.

We were using a Traynor powered mixer for PA>2 Traynor PA cabs(75-82). Sounded pretty dang good then.
I had tested the Thunderbird through a Traynor bass amp rig(YBA-100[?]>2x12[?]cab-coulda been 1x15?). Really liked the tone. Comparable to my 63 piggyback Bassman but with more oomph. If Carroll's had moved a little on the price(I bought other[stuff]there), I'd have bought it. They didn't, I didn't.

Side note: I had them do an appraisal on the gear I had at the time(1974), most of which is gone. It showed the serial #[519096]of the 1967 Thunderbird which was lost in the first headstock repair about a year later. Since I never intended to sell the bass, I didn't GAS.

 

[Count Bassie]

Carroll's on bird Road at 112th avenue. Ace said they couldn't get them. They had pretty much everything else, though. I got my Kasino at a little shop in North Miami(Sound Station). They didn't last very long.
The original Ace on 7th ave. is now a church.

I remember Carroll Music. They had a midnight blue Alembic Spoiler for $1,600, brand new.

 

[MCF]

Pioneer 737, BIC direct drive turn table, Wollensak tape deck, and Infinity Transmission Line Columns. I was 16 as I had to save a bit longer...Still have everything except the Pioneer. Sold it for an Onkyo 7+2 just a few years ago.

I picked up a used Pioneer receiver for my son a few years ago. I’m not recalling which one. May have been a 636? I’ll have to check when I’m home.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

this place….would hang around there for hours with band members…..AWESOME place…8 track recording studio, three rehearsal studios (one with an Acoustic 361 the other with a GK 600B), a hifi store (mostly used stuff), a repair shop, a record store, a drum shop, the music store itself (all used stuff) a big parking lot where they would setup a stage on weekends and the Cafe on the third floor…Jaco used to jam there all the time…man those were the days…

 

[cyberhawk]

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

70’s bird? hard to tell…crunchy..

 

[GBassNorth]

70’s bird? hard to tell…crunchy..

Lead singer is channeling Jim Morrison. The bird sounds nice, couldn’t see it clear enough to tell if it was a 70’s three screw model.

 

[Instagator]

Gigged the red one last night.
I must be getting old..I remember learning these tunes on the set list when they first came out. I guess I should know them by now..

 

[JIO]

70’s bird? hard to tell…crunchy..

Yah, hard to make out distinctly - but it was a II as it had 3 controls. No pg - you can clearly see the wire rout. His right hand was over the bridge the whole time so you never saw what version it was. Like you I'll guess a natural-finished '70s IV or possibly a stripped gen1. Also hard to clearly make out the N-pu - it almost looks like it could be a Darkstar.

I saw them about 7 years ago here in SF - great show. I don't recall what the bass-player played that night.

 

[GonePlaid]

this place….would hang around there for hours with band members…..AWESOME place…8 track recording studio, three rehearsal studios (one with an Acoustic 361 the other with a GK 600B), a hifi store (mostly used stuff), a repair shop, a record store, a drum shop, the music store itself (all used stuff) a big parking lot where they would setup a stage on weekends and the Cafe on the third floor…Jaco used to jam there all the time…man those were the days…
View attachment 4627146

Never got there for any shows(gigging), but I bought [stuff-including my SVT/810] there. Helluva place.

 

[Engle]

Gigged the red one last night.
I must be getting old..I remember learning these tunes on the set list when they first came out. I guess I should know them by now..

View attachment 4627312

There’s a lot of tunes I “should” know
Love that red bird. I can’t remember, is that a refinished VP?

 

[Count Bassie]

this place….would hang around there for hours with band members…..AWESOME place…8 track recording studio, three rehearsal studios (one with an Acoustic 361 the other with a GK 600B), a hifi store (mostly used stuff), a repair shop, a record store, a drum shop, the music store itself (all used stuff) a big parking lot where they would setup a stage on weekends and the Cafe on the third floor…Jaco used to jam there all the time…man those were the days…
View attachment 4627146

I got my first bass from there! Memphis Precision copy... And Wally Voss, my first local major influence on bass, who played with Pearl (insanely good local band) always wore a purple Musicians' Exchange t-shirt.

 

[Count Bassie]

We were using a Traynor powered mixer for PA>2 Traynor PA cabs(75-82). Sounded pretty dang good then.
I had tested the Thunderbird through a Traynor bass amp rig(YBA-100[?]>2x12[?]cab-coulda been 1x15?). Really liked the tone. Comparable to my 63 piggyback Bassman but with more oomph. If Carroll's had moved a little on the price(I bought other[stuff]there), I'd have bought it. They didn't, I didn't.

Side note: I had them do an appraisal on the gear I had at the time(1974), most of which is gone. It showed the serial #[519096]of the 1967 Thunderbird which was lost in the first headstock repair about a year later. Since I never intended to sell the bass, I didn't GAS.

Carroll was tough, they never budged as I recall.

 

[Instagator]

There’s a lot of tunes I “should” know
Love that red bird. I can’t remember, is that a refinished VP?

Yes it is..ReRanch nitro Dakota Red

 

[dedpool1052]

I remember Carroll Music. They had a midnight blue Alembic Spoiler for $1,600, brand new.

Like this?
Alembic | Spoiler | 1988 | Blue | Made in USA | NOS | NEW | Unused | Collector´s item | Ultra RARE!! | Sound of Music - SoM | Reverb

 

[Count Bassie]

Like this?
Alembic | Spoiler | 1988 | Blue | Made in USA | NOS | NEW | Unused | Collector´s item | Ultra RARE!! | Sound of Music - SoM | Reverb

No, opaque, dark blue-black...

 

[Count Bassie]

Selling a cab, just waiting for bread... And I'm talking to a cat about an Epi Vintage Pro. More as this story develops...

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

I got my first bass from there! Memphis Precision copy... And Wally Voss, my first local major influence on bass, who played with Pearl (insanely good local band) always wore a purple Musicians' Exchange t-shirt.

yeah, i think we talked about this sometime back….used to watch him all the time with Pearl and Front Runner….. he then went on tour with Yngwie and stole our singer’s girlfriend LOL…..so sad he went so young….

 

[Count Bassie]

yeah, i think we talked about this sometime back….used to watch him all the time with Pearl and Front Runner….. he then went on tour with Yngwie and stole our singer’s girlfriend LOL…..so sad he went so young….

What year was this? What's that band?
Edit... I see Wally there, but that's not Pearl. I wonder if it's earlier than '79? That's whenI started playing, and when I got my fake ID and started venturing into clubs, which is when I saw Pearl.