Thunderbird Club

[BklynKen]

It's National Pet Day - I'm paying my Cat Tax.

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Looks like the cat's doing a proper ignore.

 

[dagrev]

yep….. this one looks like a russet….
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BIRDS!…..
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Somebody say good (bird) dog?

 

[bobyoung53]

First look, 1966 Gibson Thunderbird II restored by my dear friend Bill Walance who passed on about 6 years ago. The bass came to Bill as a stripped carcasse with the neck busted off around the 3rd fret. Bill did a beautiful job restoring the bass, he was so excited about it, we talked at length about how to approach the restoration. I recently acquired the bass from Bill's widow. Bill was a dear friend fellow luthier, tinkerer and bass obsessed, we got on like Mutt and Jeff. Here's a picture of Bill and I at The House of Guitars twisting the Gibson reps. arm to make Nonreverse Thunderbirds again.View attachment 4653893 View attachment 4653894 View attachment 4653895 View attachment 4653896 View attachment 4653897 View attachment 4653898

Beautiful bass, I really like yellow bodies with white pickguards too, the epitome of class for me. I have a '96 Jazz that's supposed to be antique white with a white pickguard but it's yellowed to just about that shade. I wish they'd bring back those two piece bridges and make a single pickup Thunderbird again.

 

[bobyoung53]

Somebody say good (bird) dog?
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That's a classy looking bass too.

 

[bobyoung53]

yep….. this one looks like a russet….
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BIRDS!…..
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What is the difference in sound of the two NR Birds? The one on the right looks like the bridge pickup is a little farther away from the bridge, I thought those early ones moved the neck pickup closer to the bridge, do I have it backwards?

 

[bobyoung53]

What do you T-Bird folk use for your overdrive if not the amp? I love a cranked up Hiwatt as much as anyone but it isn't always a possible solution, not even for recording. A Lab Series L2 has been my go-to amp for a slightly less loud overdrive sound but for home recordings I have to use a pedal and other apparitions.

The cheap guitar pedal Bad Monkey worked perfectly for me (I like a mild overdrive more that a farty fuzz) but I still got the itch to upgrade it to a Hardwire series CM-2 (Tube Overdrive or Distortion, depending when it was made) as I had read it worked even better for bass (no low end loss, 'though the Monkey doesn't bother me in that matter either). I think I agree, it seems to work quite well for a Wettonesque Hiwatt -blast. To emulate that further I used a DOD Milkbox compressor with a slow attack and the "amp" end was the SV-Pre and Acoustic 301 IR (cab sim). Even with the wrong gear I'm quite pleased with the sound. The bass wasn't a P-bass but the VP. You can only guess which pickup I used. Should be obvious.
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I use one of these, it has a 12AX7 tube in it, bass, mid, treble, pre gain and post gain, it does anything from light breakup to a VERY convincing Mel Schacher OD sound, not cheap but worth it, i use SVT's which of course will do that sound but will level the club at the same time, kill all the patrons and get you fired from your gig so I use these. :

Oh, no low end loss with this at all.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

agree that it doesn’t sound good, kinda uneasy feeling.

But wasn’t the offensive lyric a homage to an Elvis song “Baby let’s play house” ???

Not good in either song.

Mind you Maxwell Silver Hammer has some issues as well

RFYL always sounded to me like a Monkees mockery of the Beatles. (I didn't hear RFYL until at least eth Monkees' first season on TV.)

 

[Miles_ONeal]

First look, 1966 Gibson Thunderbird II restored by my dear friend Bill Walance who passed on about 6 years ago. The bass came to Bill as a stripped carcasse with the neck busted off around the 3rd fret. Bill did a beautiful job restoring the bass, he was so excited about it, we talked at length about how to approach the restoration. I recently acquired the bass from Bill's widow. Bill was a dear friend fellow luthier, tinkerer and bass obsessed, we got on like Mutt and Jeff. Here's a picture of Bill and I at The House of Guitars twisting the Gibson reps. arm to make Nonreverse Thunderbirds again.View attachment 4653893 View attachment 4653894 View attachment 4653895 View attachment 4653896 View attachment 4653897 View attachment 4653898

Every aspect of this post - other than Bill's being gone - is beautiful.

 

[GBassNorth]

Birds and a dog, what more could one ask for….

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

What is the difference in sound of the two NR Birds? The one on the right looks like the bridge pickup is a little farther away from the bridge, I thought those early ones moved the neck pickup closer to the bridge, do I have it backwards?

Gibsons left and center…BaCH on right…..all three totally different pups and strings…..lots of tonal options…

 

[KaraQ]

What do you T-Bird folk use for your overdrive if not the amp? I love a cranked up Hiwatt as much as anyone but it isn't always a possible solution, not even for recording. A Lab Series L2 has been my go-to amp for a slightly less loud overdrive sound but for home recordings I have to use a pedal and other apparitions.

The cheap guitar pedal Bad Monkey worked perfectly for me (I like a mild overdrive more that a farty fuzz) but I still got the itch to upgrade it to a Hardwire series CM-2 (Tube Overdrive or Distortion, depending when it was made) as I had read it worked even better for bass (no low end loss, 'though the Monkey doesn't bother me in that matter either). I think I agree, it seems to work quite well for a Wettonesque Hiwatt -blast. To emulate that further I used a DOD Milkbox compressor with a slow attack and the "amp" end was the SV-Pre and Acoustic 301 IR (cab sim). Even with the wrong gear I'm quite pleased with the sound. The bass wasn't a P-bass but the VP. You can only guess which pickup I used. Should be obvious.
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I usually use this:

 

[Miles_ONeal]

First look, 1966 Gibson Thunderbird II restored by my dear friend Bill Walance who passed on about 6 years ago. The bass came to Bill as a stripped carcasse with the neck busted off around the 3rd fret. Bill did a beautiful job restoring the bass, he was so excited about it, we talked at length about how to approach the restoration. I recently acquired the bass from Bill's widow. Bill was a dear friend fellow luthier, tinkerer and bass obsessed, we got on like Mutt and Jeff. Here's a picture of Bill and I at The House of Guitars twisting the Gibson reps. arm to make Nonreverse Thunderbirds again.View attachment 4653893 View attachment 4653894 View attachment 4653895 View attachment 4653896 View attachment 4653897 View attachment 4653898

Very few NRs make me drool, but this is beautiful!

 

[PillO]

It's National Pet Day - I'm paying my Cat Tax.

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National Pet Day?

My daughter's dog (visiting me)

Splash, the dog that I found and who was looking for her people.

 

[MCF]

My soon to be daughter in law has a silver car with hail dents. She names everything. It's name is Maxwell. She is in her mid-20s and is a complete Beatles fan.

I would like a green Thunderbird. The next refin will be green. I haven't decided what green. Chevrolet Rallye Green is at the top of the list at the moment.

British Racing Green is a cool color.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I thought so too until I found the Lab Series amps.

When I played guitar, the L5 was the only SS amp I really liked.

 

[MCF]

First look, 1966 Gibson Thunderbird II restored by my dear friend Bill Walance who passed on about 6 years ago. The bass came to Bill as a stripped carcasse with the neck busted off around the 3rd fret. Bill did a beautiful job restoring the bass, he was so excited about it, we talked at length about how to approach the restoration. I recently acquired the bass from Bill's widow. Bill was a dear friend fellow luthier, tinkerer and bass obsessed, we got on like Mutt and Jeff. Here's a picture of Bill and I at The House of Guitars twisting the Gibson reps. arm to make Nonreverse Thunderbirds again.View attachment 4653893 View attachment 4653894 View attachment 4653895 View attachment 4653896 View attachment 4653897 View attachment 4653898

Man Geddy, that’s gorgeous. Congratulations.

 

[PhR75]

I don't use a distorted sound, but if I did I would drive my tube heads (because I like that more natural sound) and use something like this to get the volume back to a usable level. I have never used one, but this seems ideal as I've yet to hear a pedal distortion that sounds natural or good. I figure if you like the way a tube amp sounds, why use a pedal that makes it sound different.

JHS Little Black Amp Box Passive Amp Attenuator

Bugera PS1 Passive 100-watt Power Attenuator

Good point. And before the cab simulators got more common using an overdrive pedal to DI signal was a big no (unless a Husker Du -type shredding paper sound was the one you're after). That's why the Bad Monkey was/is good too because it has another output called "mixer out" which basically has just high and low pass filters (or a fixed EQ curve of some sort) to make it sound more like a cab. I've used that before the DI box even if I haven't used it as an overdrive.

But hand on heart, if I had said that I just recorded my T-Bird with the tube amp cranked and mic'ed my cab with a 57 would you've bought that?

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I use one of these, it has a 12AX7 tube in it, bass, mid, treble, pre gain and post gain, it does anything from light breakup to a VERY convincing Mel Schacher OD sound, not cheap but worth it, i use SVT's which of course will do that sound but will level the club at the same time, kill all the patrons and get you fired from your gig so I use these. :

Oh, no low end loss with this at all.



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Half the price of a RedDI, and more controls. I wonder how the tone compares. The RedDI blew me away, but of course it's only got a level control. Still, as a DI, it's amazing.

 

[PhR75]

National Pet Day? I just took our puppy to a long walk to get the energies out so we can sleep... Got home and still going strong. Then I started to talk to her about the different neck pickup locations and mentioned the overdrive pedals, cab sims, played the bit I recorded...

 

[bobyoung53]

Half the price of a RedDI, and more controls. I wonder how the tone compares. The RedDI blew me away, but of course it's only got a level control. Still, as a DI, it's amazing.

I've heard those are really nice sounding, I can't justify paying the money for one at least right now as I'm doing all small gigs here with virtually no PA support. It does sound good but I would imagine the RedDI sounds better.