"Shipping:
Buyer responsible for arranging with the seller."
Really? The damn thing's $5000. They could at least throw in shipping.
I really don't like using DIs. None of my amps have the capability, and I consider the cab/speakers integral to my sound, so Pre-EQ DI doesn't do it for me. On the last show I played, our soundman used a Peavey PVM 45ir (the first time he's ever needed to mic me, usually just sets the mix and tells me to turn up/down as necessary), and I was very impressed by it. The sound coming from the monitors was pretty much dead on to what the sound coming from the cab was. So from now on I'm carrying one. Hopefully it will avoid situations like the brawl that nearly broke out with the soundman at a previous show.
Every soundperson who's DIed me has regretted it, as I proceed to peak their preamp all night.
What's the PVM 45ir?
Thanks for the thoughtful responses. When I used to gig, I always used a direct box. I know where to find a trusty SM57, which is the Swiss Army knife of mics. I am surprised the AKG D112 didn't get more love here. They seem to market it as both a bass drum and bass mic, which seems intuitive but I guess not. This might also seem a tad dense but do you find that the cab/speaker size is a factor in this equation? Playing live, one might pair a 2 x 10 and a 12 or 15 to round things out. But wouldn't you use one mic off axis on a single bass speaker for recording? Kat, they do make a new AKG: http
://www.akg.com/pro/p/d112mkii
Kick drum mics are, IMHO and IME, total garbage for bass guitar. All lows and highs, no mids.
A good, but more pricey option is an EV RE-20.
As for speaker size, there are a lot of other variables that affect the sound way more. The myth goes that cabs with 10"s are brighter than 15"s and so on, but that's not the case. The Ampeg 410HLF has more low end than my Sunn 2000S 2x15, but way less midrange.
Maybe, but the dents in their face from the rings will be worth it.
That particular soundman was a real piece of work. I was playing in two bands at our local county fair, day 1, loaded in, his immediate comment "Don't bother plugging it in, you're just going into DI" to which I say, "Well, I'd much prefer it if you could just mic it with a SM57." "Ugh, yeah, sure."
I keep the amp pretty low onstage, right around 2 on the volume knob, so that the other band members on stage could hear it and the amp is just opening up. In our maybe 3rd song the soundman comes up and starts yelling at me mid song "You need to turn down," to which I reply "I'm only on 2, I can't really turn down anymore, but I'll try." Turn it down a bit, but now no other member on stage can hear me, I can't hear myself, and talking to friends in the crowd afterwards, they could barely hear me either. Alright, sure, whatever.
So next day, I'm playing in a different band. We setup, same rig, Sunn 2000s. There's a drummer, Sax player, two guitars, and me. I'm getting everything together, soundman comes over while I'm not with my rig and starts trying to plug in his DI between my pedals and Amp. "Oh, hey, I'd like to do the same setup we did yesterday, and just mic my cab."
"Nope."
"Pardon me?"
"I said no. We did it your way, now we're doing it my way"
"Well, I'm the one playing and I'd really like it if we could go ahead and mic my cab, like you're doing for the guitar cabs."
"No, you sound like $***. So I'm DI'ing you so I can make it sound okay."
So at this point what ensues is a rapidly escalating back and forth of "Excuse me? How dare you" and "You can't play and your sound is *insert expletive*" until the sax player steps in and I remove myself before I lose it (I know I have a temper, and try to take myself out of the situation before it boils over). So I go off, grab some food, and come back at sound check. He's got the DI setup, fine whatever, let's not let this ruin the show. So we're running soundcheck, he checks me, fine, I roll the volume off on the amp so there's no extra sound until we start. But hey, since the DI is before that, guess what, I can't mute that. So while walking about the cable pops. It doesn't come through the amp, but it does over the PA.
To which the lovely soundman then says, live, in front of the gathering crowd "Hey, just so you know, your bass player is a total ***h*le".
To which the guitar player replies "Hey man, do you have something to say to us? Then you can come up here on stage and say it to us".
"Nope, I've said what I have to say."
Throughout the show there's other issues. After multiple songs the guitar player/singer asks for his monitor to be louder, and eventually just on, and the soundman keeps replying it is on, until one of the other sound crew members walks up to the stage and discovers that the monitor wasn't plugged in. Members can't hear each other in the monitors, etc. When the other band members ask what I want to do/say about the soundman, I say "We'll thank him at the end. We'll look professional and maybe it'll hit home to him what an a$$ he's been in public."
So we do. We're breaking down (we were the last act of the night), and guess who wanders on up?
"So you guys sounded alright tonight."
Sticks out his hand to shake mine.
"Man, I'm not shaking your hand."
"Why not, I had you guys sounding good"
"Why? Because you came up here and personally insulted me and my playing, and then did the same over the PA. I'm not shaking your hand."
"Yeah, I told you the truth. You do play like **** and sound like ****. You're a real piece of work, you'll never work professionally."
"Look man, walk away. You are absolutely unprofessional and ******* rude. I'm not shaking your hand. You're being a real ******* a******, and I want you to get away from me right now."
"You're a ******* s*******. You have no idea what the **** you're talking about."
"Yeah, well at least I'm not a *expletive not common to the US*"
"I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU EAT THOSE WORDS."
At which point other members of the sound crew pulled him away. The rest of the crew were great, they kept coming up during the set and asking if there was anything they could do for me since they could hardly hear me in the mix (big surprise), but we soldiered through.
As it turns out, he was a surly piece of work with other bands as well, and numerous other players had issue with him as well. Hopefully they'll never hire him again. He was the worst sound engineer I've ever dealt with far and away. Just immediately resorted to insults and pettiness. And I can be a real butt when it comes to my sound sure, and I probably threw in a few more swear words than portrayed above, but he was a real piece of work.
What a total jackass.
I hope I never run into this POS.
I don't see what's so difficult. Just slap a mic on it like the guitar cabs.
Heya guys. I was wondering if an Epiphone thunderbird would tune down to c standard well? Its a through neck, pro model. I want to get it set up with some strings made for down tuning but was after peoples thoughts before i do it.
Mine is tuned to BEAD, with a 130 for the lowest string.
Thinking VVT+kill (just to fill the spots)
Pickup switch. Mine is actually wired VVS.
Sometimes I do but never against my Yanks!
Are you from NY?
Just because I wanted to see it bigger!
View attachment 959079
That's gorgeous!
Beautiful bass.
can gibson 3 point bridges handle BEAD with .130 b strings? Or do they need to be grooved out? I know the nut will some probably, I am ok with that. I just don't want to mess with the bridge too much
Yes. It'll be fine. That's what I use, though now I have a Babicz bridge.
the
sweetwater folks told me .105 is the widest it would accept
did you have to do any modification to the bridge? how about the nut?
I assume you have yours BEAD?
The
sweetwater folks were probably guitarists or other flavors of folks who don't know what they're talking about. 105 isn't even particularly wide.
Nickle pg screws, ah it's the little things. I love it when a plan comes together
View attachment 959600
Very nice.
I believe when you click on their screen name it should give you an option to ignore. Not entirely sure if that'll block their posts, though.
It does.
Why fights: it keeps things "balanced". Same reason that pitchers in the National League don't throw at opposing batters very often. They're gonna get plunked if they do. Its why Sid the Kid doesn't just get killed every single game. Teams have enforcers so that nobody on the other team gets too froggy with the stars (or superstars, in Sid's case). Somebody takes a cheap shot at your top scorer, they're gonna have to pay a price for it. And, without letting them fight, the game would get out of control and the refs wouldn't be able to keep it in check.
They'll usually plunk the most valuable person on your team, too, if they're mad at you.
The reason that records are coming back, other than the whole hipster silliness aspect, is the ritual. We'd buy an LP, unwrap it, put it on, and really dig into the art work and liner notes while we listened. With the downloading of songs, that's all taken away, and we yearn to have the connection with the music that uses to be there. There is a certain hollowness to the experience of there's no investment in it. Young people are finding out what we've known for 30 or 40 years.
Yeah. Generally with bands that I'm really into, I'll spring for the vinyl version of the record.
I'm taking notes, Sartori. I'm guessing that you're talking capicators??? What "electronics" would you suggest upgrading to? I'd love to supe up the goth bird.
Yeah, but I don't think an upgrade is super necessary. Can always go for higher value pots if you want brighter, I guess. Or just ditch the tone knob entirely.
That's alright, cats don't like you'n'all - it all balances out in the end. Personally I have a visceral dislike of dogs (but mistreatment of them still sickens me). You are right about the opposable thumbs...
I'm the same except my visceral dislike is of cats. Despise them for reasons I don't even understand. But I'd still be furious at someone for abusing them.
Oh man, look at this! Horrifying, what a tragedy..
1977 Gibson Thunderbird 4 String Bass
Rescue operation go!
Simply amazing what chrome parts do for a modern Thunderbird, that's just classic in appearance!
Gibson really, really missed the boat by not offering chrome as (at least) an option. Henry J., are you reading this?
Right? I don't know why they keep refusing to do this. It would mark a distinct difference between the Gibson and Epiphone model. Or you could offer both black and chrome on the Gibson, but chrome would be an upcharge. People would buy it.
Do any of you play your Thunderbird with fingers only in a band? I see a lot of pick players but maybe I'm not seeing the finger folk. Just wondering.
I play both fingers and pick. Often in the same song. Basically all of my main band's songs have at least one pick/fingers switch in them.
Make a Thunderbird II out of it!
Or the T-bird that never was... a Thunderbird VI (6... three pickups).
I would, but then it's sourcing suitable wood & such. It could be done for sure, Then it's cost of making it look original (minus the burst i'd probably use a top & dye it) some pickups, bridge & controls knobs. Doable, i'd give it a few select mods but nothing in major drastic changes as it is now. Doesn't look like it'll ship to Canada so i'm out - bummer, i'm kinda liking the idea of making this new again & maybe give it to my pops
refinished in white like his first thunderbird
No need to make it look original. Just like a non-butchered T-bird again. But unique.
There are picks and then there are picks. With the 346 shaped heavy tortex my grip didn't always feel 100% secure. The 'standard' size XH cellulose is the mutt's. You'd expect the vulcanised (?) tortex would have a better feel than the shiny cellulose, but the XH feels like part of my hand not something you have to remember to hold on to.
Fingers? They're for food.
Fingers or pick depends on the bass. The Bird is not a fingers bass, whereas the Maranello is suitable for fingers or pick.
I score the backs of my picks with a pocket knife for better grip. Use mainly 1.5mm.
This video popped up in my YouTube feed. Fernandes-Burny Rex Tbird bass. Looks like they took the Spector Rex and stretched things out a bit.
Interesting pickup configuration. Dual reverse P (which of course is superior to regular P).
+1 - tube amps at home, hybrid amps live. (yomv)
For me it's tube amps at rehearsal and live. Unplugged or headphones at home.
Super cool but wouldn't a certain company look at such a post, as if it were LeBron James ($$$$$ NIKE endorser) posting pics of his vintage Adidas shoe collection? I wonder how those deals work in music industry?
Probably not unless he started using them more than his signature model.
I just stumbled upon these pickups on
Invalid Link Removed. Not affiliated with anything in regards of selling or the seller themselves, but i thought it was a cool option for those owning epiphone birds that wanna chrome out but not necessarily have to modify the pickup cavity for shallower chrome pickups.
View attachment 964538
On another note, i hate when TB doesn't notify me of this club's actions
I do hope the brethren who are near the hurricane, & their families are safe!
Interesting. I wonder what they sound like.
Wise tactic... That's what I've been using on my last three wins on EBay...
Sit patiently and wait, and then put a high maximum in at the last minute, so other bidders won't have the time to ad a new and higher bid...
Unfortunately it doesn't always work...
Yeah, but it's fine when it doesn't. Means the other person wanted it more, I suppose.
Don't you just hate delivery companies? The parts Scott sent me are ready for delivery but the company won't deliver without a signature even though I said it was OK to leave in the greenhouse, so they're getting delivered next Saturday at extra cost. The tuners are almost here, they have been despatched from Stansted airport in the UK so fingers crossed they should be here Monday or Tuesday so I'll be able to make a start on the blinging of the Epiphone soon
Are you not able to go pick it up from their warehouse/depot?
I can't seem to remember what these are, so I'm asking you guys: somebody makes a right angle pedal patch cable with flat wire and flat, flat backed plugs. Best i can recall, both wire and plug have flat black insulation. Who is it?
I got mine like that on Reverb. They're all orange and fancy.
Well, all I can speak for are the examples that I compared the Classic IV to (which were a couple of 2015s and one 2014) when I was shopping around for a T-Bird. My original plan was to get a Gibson bird, but once I tried the Classic, there was nothing that could touch it in terms of tone and playability (and I won't even get into finish issues). I'm just saying; to me the Epi was better than the Gibsons that *I* encountered... And I got to save $1000.
I'm the same way. I actually really do like the Epiphone Classic (the neck through one) better than the Gibsons I've tried.
Do you remember the chef from the Muppets?
Hoping my tuners will be here this weekend, still not arrived
He was Swedish, not Finnish. Different and completely unrelated languages (Finnish isn't even in the Indo-European language family).
Yup, I'm definitely NOT on a jazz trio. Guys go on aboit let the PA do the work. Well, when your playing with a monster drummer, ya better have real stage volume or you won't hear yourself because 90% of soundmen are morons. Monitors? Huh???
If you even get monitors.
You know I've never been able to get on with Ampegs. The SVTs have always just left me...wanting something. Like maybe it was a bit muffled on certain frequencies. Or this kinda...rubber band feeling in the response? I get why they're a standard, but that might be part of why I feel they're a bit lacking in areas, because they are the standard, I hesitate to say generic, bass sound in rock. And because I don't think there are any of my major influences who played them: Entwistle, Bruce, JPJ, Redding, Casady, Wood, Pappalardi, Squire, McCartney. Actually, no, I guess Geddy did for a bit. I guess for me, when I hear them, they just aren't the sound of the bass in the Rock music I listen to.
I love Ampegs, honestly. I probably should have gotten an SVT. I EQ my D-180 to sound fairly 'ampeggy.' Though it requires using the graphic EQ.
Same here!! Ive played through a lot of different amplifiers (combos & rigs) & ampeg was decent. It does sound muffled, but took distortion or overdrives well to give me more mid focus & treble bite. Ashdown was a great amplifier for the tone i looked for & it delivered superbly!! Orange terror i didnt really give it all cause it was good but the distortion would cut my low end greatly which wasnt great. But with my current first rig the peavey century & the swr goliath II 4x10, its a match made in heaven for the tone i was seeking all these years & with every bass i own: i don't need to alter the amp setting to have a suitable tone for each
& as far as effects go I'm pretty limited in terms of effects pedals persay I do have the mxr 10 band EQ to give me a little evenness between basses in the bass & mids. Treble left flat & sub bass cut a tad. It also boosts in volume a bit more to give me a kick. other than that, i have my D.I. + with the distortion channel although i haven't had the chance to try it with my rig yet. But for effects i'm getting the MXR stereo chorus & the soundblox nemesis delay. I love those two effects on bass for the nice melodic fills & parts during some sombre songs of mine.
I do use somewhat unorthodox settings on Ampegs when I play them. I crank the mids up, and crank the gain if it has a gain knob. And play hard.
I was curious if anyone was producing "boutique" bass amps these days, as there are so many high end tube options on the guitar side: Swart, Dr. Z, 65amps, Suhr (and pricey relaunch of vintage brands such as Magnatone and Supro). They are spendy but not $3100 (for a head only).
There are quite a few.
Dunwich springs to mind immediately. Then there's also Verellen, Hovercraft, Matamp's still in business, Reeves, etc.
Sorry but that Audio Kitchen amp looks like £3300 worth of 'authenticity' designed for hipsters by hipsters. For Brits and ex-Brits, this video is full of cultural signifiers.
My issue isn't so much the hipsterism (though I would have preferred a walkthrough of the amp rather than droning on about his design philosophy), but the price. I could get a custom Dunwich head built for less.
It's listening to the guy go on about it that nicks me. Boring.
I'm putting myself outside here, probably. I'm ok with it, And I get the search for tone, and the endeavor to optimize the voicing of a circuit so the eq you use is more efficient, true-to-life, what have you.
But Kat888s "hipster" remark just hits home for me. I live next to Providence, RI, the hipster capital of our great country... *yawn*...
Same. If he'd been a bit more down to earth and immediately got to talking about the features, I wouldn't have been annoyed.
Are these Audio Kitchen heads made mostly for studio/recording? The product page for the head states: "It addresses the perennial goal of producers and engineers – how to get the bass to sit further forward in the mix." Unless I misinterpreted the specs page, it is a 60 lb head that puts out 120W:
Invalid Link Removed. Could something that size, with 7 tubes, only put out that little power? Wouldn't it be hard to gig it at a venue larger than a small pub? Or is the idea that you run these heads into a much larger power amp? Otherwise, it seems like a guitarist (or two) using their [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] guitar amp head (30 watts), into a 2 X 12 cab, might be louder on stage, no? And then add a drummer. Yet, they also offer a
8 X 10 bass cabinet.
Seven tubes? Only the output tubes count, as far as power, and it's only four 6L6, which, yes, would give it about 120 watts. My amp is six 6L6s in the power section and is 180 watts. So it's doing about 60 watts a pair, which is about as good as you can hope for with those. I do somewhat question the choice of 6L6 for a brand new amp rather than using 6550s, as it certainly seems large enough that it would have big enough transformers for more power with 6550s, but I don't know, I assume there was a reason they went with the 6L6 instead.
Also no, it's not hard to gig at a venue larger than a pub. Through a big, loud cab, such as an 810, that's enough to be very loud, especially if you're fine with distortion.
I've seen a doom metal band's bassist use an Ampeg V4B live. Granted, it was with two big cabs, but it would have done a lot of hearing damage if I'd not been wearing earplugs. Don't let the power rating fool you. A 120 watt tube head can be very loud. @D.M.N. can attest to that.
"Its solid, refined feel delivers a sense of both power and precision."
Sort of like me hitting you upside your skull with a 2x4?
Get off my f*@%ing lawn and take your underpowered Base Stupidity with you.
It may be overpriced, but it's not underpowered. My head is a little more powerful, but not much more. And I play in two doom metal bands, that are very, very loud.
Back off/on topic of the amp/cab
I had a SVT410HLF. Once it was broken in, it was boomie. Fortunately my oldest daughter needed a can for the school band. Got a Benz 410 used for under $400. Needless to say, I sold the HLF
V4b sounds pretty awesome through the Genz
Can't stand the SVT410HLF. When I had to use one, no matter what I did with the EQ, it was mud city. Some people love them, though. Further evidence that not every product is made for me.
I'm 41 and I don't have a clue on how to dress outside work. Help.
I just wear jeans and a shirt. And socks. And shoes. Seems to be working okay.
I reached a point where I was bored with beer and ended up going to cider. I don't really drink much at all now - usually one a week these days, two at a stretch. Anyway, despite liking cider, I'm not a fan of lambics.
I drink mainly cider now because I've been diagnosed with celiac and gluten free beers are few and far between.
I just thought of another idea, maybe just having one volume for the neck pickup so the bridge is always on & i can dial the neck pickup as i please. But again, i might just like the new Sixx pickups full on xD
That would be cool.
Thought I'd throw my monkey wrench in the mix! I have kill switches on a few of my birds, my LIVE basses. I'd have em on all my regular live basses for a couple reasons 1) I can very quickly kill my noise no matter where I'm at on stage or what I might be doing. 2) I run my pups full on live for the most part, but I've found I get a better old school T bird sound (too fast for love) with the bridge completly off. That said, I didn't run all my basses with no pots. Only my blackbird is like that. I did disconnected the tone on all my stage basses because I'd always somehow turn the tone down (yuck) but didn't notice cuz it it's so loud and crazy
I have a pickup switch on my T-bird where the tone knob used to be. Never found a use for tone knobs. Full up is the only setting on them that I like.
Got me a 215 Sunn yesterday. Looking for kickin' drivers now- currently loaded w Celestion PA spkrs... was used with an SVT, so ok for now...
If you're willing to spend the money, the Faital 15PR400s sound amazing in those old Sunn cabs.
Anyone see this yet?? Holy Cow!
View attachment 971742
Dingwalls are weird, but I think they're weird in a cool way. I bet it sounds similar to a regular T-bird with the outer two pickups, and then.... who knows, with the middle one.
What effect s do you guys use? If any?
Lately on my board I have, besides a boss tuner, a Korg Miku Stomp (for making bizarre noises), an EHX Ravish Sitar pedal, the new custom Dunwich fuzz pedal (that's kicking both the EHX Bass Big Muff and the Way Huge Swollen Pickle fuzz off), a Morley Dual Bass Wah, and an EHX Holy Grail Nano reverb.
Used to have a Digitech Digiverb, but it was overly complicated and not as reliable as the Holy Grail (which has only one knob).
My main overdrive sound is from the amp, though, a Mesa D-180.
12AX7 and 6550 = valves
BCP1 = compressor
Never could figure out compressors. One of those "sounds cool when other people use them, awful when I do" things. Like Fenders.
The awesome thing about the Darkglass amp, that somewhat justifies the price, is that it basically includes 2 of their highly regarded pedals, the VMT and the B3K. Which would sell for about $450 combined.
Having said that, $250 each for a pedal is pricey :-/ But they sell.
And the downside is that the two effects can't be used together at the same time, and they aren't footswitchable, which seems like a big mistake. You have to push a button at the amp.
But the first reviews so far are great.
That's a bit pricey for an overdrive, in my opinion. Especially an off the shelf one. My custom fuzz was less.
What do people do for stands? Normally a bass is on me or in its case but there may be occasions when it would be convenient to stand them up. There are $10 shortie triangular stands available but they probably don't fit a Bird's asymmetric bum that well. The Hercules stands are geeky cool looking but are they any good? How do they go with nitro finish?
Hercules stands are good. I recommend them. I have the one with two holders. I've mainly used it with the folk/rock band when I've brought my 4001 and a backup.
That thread is a good example of the 'narcissism of small differences'. It's a Bumper, no it's a Frankenbumper, no it can't be, unless it has a tort pickguard.
They're all Bumpers. It's not like they made that particular neck for that particular body in the factory, even on an all-original Fender bass. Also I hate tort.
They're over in Bumpworld going "it doesn't matter how mucj I spend...they all sound the same!!!"
Sound isn't why I spend more, ha.
Seriously, though. For me, usually feel is the biggest difference between expensive and cheapo basses. My 4003 doesn't sound that different from my modded Peavey. But it's more comfortable by a lot (not to knock the Peavey at all; it's been a great mod platform and was a hell of a bass for a cheapo instrument).
