Thunderbird Club

[Mvf]

Just out of curiosity, how many here change their bass tone during a gig? With my ThunderJ or ThunderP I can cop widely different tones, mainly because of the series/parallel switch. Parallel gets me Thunderbird and J. Series gets me P or Gibson mudbucker. I do have a Jazz with Aguilar single coils, Dingwall 4 Way switching, and a Wenge neck with jumbo frets which gets me VERY aggressive J or can even cop a pick tone. So here's from our upcoming gig set list:
18 P
13 J
5 Thunderbird
2 Stingray
2 Mudbucker

T and J are pretty interchangeable, the T has more mids

Hmm… Thinking of it, I actually never change the tone during a gig. Dial it in before, and forget about it. And I don’t use any pedals either

 

[Mvf]

The room on stage for a 2nd bass made me wonder, what stand do you guys use to stand your Tbirds? I have 2 that are both fixed bottom (no swivel) stands and as a result, only one side of the bass is supported at the bottom. Are you telling me I need to get a new stand to keep the Tbird off the floor??

I use a Hercules stand, this model I think Hercules stand GS412B Plus Floor Single Guitar Stand
Works fine for my Bird

Here some old pics of my ”big gig” setup. Two Fender Rumble combos (that I daisy chain), a small case with cables, tuners and such, the Hercules stand and of course the Thunderbird. Missing in the pics is my spare bass, that usually stays in it’s case.

 

[JIO]

I take a second bass(What)JIC the 67 should explode or something. My Epi EB-0. It stays in the gigmobile unless needed. Carefully camouflaged.

I've never, ever broken a string and play passive basses. Bringing one bass is simply one less thing to deal with. Just never considered a 'back-up' a need. Amps... now that's a different story, and I do bring a backup based on past experience.

 

[JIO]

A good way to test the sturdy-ness of Peavey cab covering?

View attachment 4644719

purrr-fect for kitty

 

[RedVee]

I only bring/use one bass. A couple times brought a fretless for one song. It was a Sunday afternoon matinee so who would care but me. It's more economy than anything - less to fuss with. Playing a set with one bass confirms the bass and players worth in the context. ..."oh look, the bass-player is playing a different bass!" (as if anyone would notice...)

Conversely, I have had friends comment to me about the poor old bass player, has to play the same bass all night. That was at a Led Zepp tribute show where the two guitarists changed guitars EVERY song

 

[Mvf]

Depends on a gig and what bass I use. I usually don't switch basses during the gig except for a different type (12-string or fretless). I mainly change the tone with the playing style (fingers, pick, muting etc.) but also change the pickup configuration when I feel like it or if the song needs it.
At the current theater musical I work in I use mostly one bass, a modded P with a Telecaster neck with two reverse P's in approx. 60's T-Bird positions (plus a freless for one song). I switch between the neck pickup and both pickups. It's also 80% with a pick. Just one artist's songs (Leevi and The Leavings) but with a large spectrum ranging from 60's style orchestral pop to rockabilly to disco to rock to schlager. The original versions were mostly played with a pick and either with a P or a Jazz.

So you’re doing theatrical versions of Leevi and the Leavings, sounds interesting….
Maybe I sometimes have a chance to come and check you out
Do you advertise your shows somewhere, I could then plan some of my work trips in your area based on that…

 

[RedVee]

When I first started using a portable automated organizer it was a Palm Pilot (get your mind out of the gutter) it was actually pretty good at what it did and very intuitive to use. Then when the BlackBerry came out I upgraded to that. Horribly clunky piece of technology, not intuitive at all but relatively secure and allowed me to combine both the phone and organizer into one device. Years later I finally decided to try an iPhone. So much better on every level, super intuitive, quick easy access to every feature. Still use one to this day. I hear Android is better at some things and Apple is better at others but I still don’t see anything out there that can flat out replace my iPhone the way it replaced my blackberry or the way the blackberry replaced my palm pilot or the way that replaced my Franklin Planner.

Our first post BlackBerry (I had a pager before the BB) was a Chinese phone (Who are we ?) with Windows OS. It was actually fine I thought not having used a touch screen style wimp phone before.
The Execs all spat chips - they all demanded iPhones. My boss was a contrarian Scot who believed Apple devices have no right being in a professional (read: his) IT environment. He dug his heels in for a while but within a few weeks all our new phones were collected and we got iPhones….

 

[KaraQ]

purrr-fect for kitty

So far, he's not been able to damage it.

Not for lack of trying

 

[PhR75]

So you’re doing theatrical versions of Leevi and the Leavings, sounds interesting….
Maybe I sometimes have a chance to come and check you out
Do you advertise your shows somewhere, I could then plan some of my work trips in your area based on that…

No, I play in a theatre band and the current play (or musical actually) has all its songs from Leevi And The Leavings repertoire.
It runs for a few weeks still so if you have time please do come and see it. The band plays under the stage 'though but we are not much to look at anyway.

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[GBassNorth]

A good way to test the sturdy-ness of Peavey cab covering?
View attachment 4644719

Tell kitty he can do that all he wants, but the first time he sprays the cab it’s hello cat skin purse.

 

[Mvf]

No, I play in a theatre band and the current play (or musical actually) has all its songs from Leevi And The Leavings repertoire.
It runs for a few weeks still so if you have time please do come and see it. The band plays under the stage 'though but we are not much to look at anyway.

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Ok. I actually have planned to visit Ovako sometimes in the and of April, so I just might

 

[PhR75]

Just did a quick comparison of the VP and the custom made NR of mine. Played through my "amp", no adjustments made when switching the basses. Both have fairly fresh sets of D'addario Pro Steels. The NR has slightly less output.

Some longish prog riffs you may or may not recognise (I hope I played them right), VP first in all three.

 

[dagrev]

Crate are actually good amps.

Yeah you are right, I used one a few times. I knew no one was going to go buy and use one of those. When they came out they were not taken seriously. At least not around here. It was well over a decade or more before a very few professionals started being seen using them after they were redesigned, and were no doubt paid handsomely to do so (as many are). ZZ Top used them for a tour. (But they actually hadn't used working amps on stage for years and instead used miced iso-cabs). Didn't someone buy Crate maybe in the 90s?

 

[dagrev]

Less about "lazy" and more about "who actually cares other than you?" - and not to dis that, if it's important to you - go for it! At least that's they way I (rock &...) "roll".

So true. Personal enjoyment can't and should never be removed. All the nuances we love to hear and shoot for are not heard, appreciated or understood by virtually everyone in a crowd, unless there are musicians present and very, very good listeners. I'm not sure what my Phase 90 sounds like 50' away or through the PA in a mix, but I like to hear it so I use it. I hope it translates beyond me, but I'm still going to use it as long as I can hear it. Same holds true for every component of what we do except the finish on the bass! Same for my big tube head and 410 cab. I could get by with a DI to the PA most of the time, or a small combo and DI, but I like my bigger rig the best so I use it.

 

[dagrev]

A good way to test the sturdy-ness of Peavey cab covering?

View attachment 4644719

Cat roadie trying to move it for you!

 

[dagrev]

There are several things I miss about Android, but since Cirrus has provided me with a free Apple ecosystem, I can live with it just fine. It’s really a tossup for me. There are things I’d miss about IOS.

Interestingly enough a few years ago Microsoft phones could be a little tough to hack. A friend at church is an engineer and was in charge of UPS data security around the world before retiring early. He once had some of his team (all white hats--hopefully) see how long it took (not if), to get into a few phones, including Android, his even his Apple and his wife's MS. They got in all, but his wife's MS phone took longer. There could be many reasons, so this is purely anecdotal.

 

[dagrev]

I use a Hercules stand, this model I think Hercules stand GS412B Plus Floor Single Guitar Stand
Works fine for my Bird

Here some old pics of my ”big gig” setup. Two Fender Rumble combos (that I daisy chain), a small case with cables, tuners and such, the Hercules stand and of course the Thunderbird. Missing in the pics is my spare bass, that usually stays in it’s case.

View attachment 4644736 View attachment 4644737 View attachment 4644738

Nice pics! Any Youtube clips floating around? Would love to hear you all play. Traveling is not a viable option!

 

[GonePlaid]

I've never, ever broken a string and play passive basses. Bringing one bass is simply one less thing to deal with. Just never considered a 'back-up' a need. Amps... now that's a different story, and I do bring a backup based on past experience.

Only string that ever broke was a D, which snapped at the tuning post as I was retightening the strings after some maintenance. That was at the house a coupla hours b4 a gig. No time to get another set, so I played one of the others that night.
I keep a backup P____ MAX110 bass amp in the gigmobile JIC. My amp has never 'died', but one of the guitarists amps did once on a gig, so the other guitarist, the drummer, and I played a tune while the first guy went to my van and got the backup amp.

 

[PhR75]

I usually bring my both Lab Series L2 amps to gigs. Looks cool to have two heads and you'll never know...


...when the guitarists amp dies and he'll borrow the other L2. Happened with one band last December. "Hey, this sounds great!".

 

[MCF]

So you’re doing theatrical versions of Leevi and the Leavings, sounds interesting….
Maybe I sometimes have a chance to come and check you out
Do you advertise your shows somewhere, I could then plan some of my work trips in your area based on that…

And another Thunderbird friendship is born. This place is so cool.