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Thunderbird Club

#226,443
Ringhammer said:
I know a transformer was added, for the heaters(?), Filaments(?), I can’t remember, (I don’t have the service ticket available to me at the moment) as well as an added fan to keep things cooled down. The additional transformer supports 2 of the four 6550’s (heaters/filaments?) while the original transformer is supporting the other 2. The previous owner started the process and when I got it, it had the 6550’s in it already. I took it to my tech who basically discovered the first guy did not do it correctly at all. My guy has been working on amps for many decades, and is known by a lot of SFBay Area players from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and on. He has worked on every Ampeg amp that has been in my hands and all have performed perfectly and reliably, so I completely trust him to do it right. I recently also found myself with an early ‘70’s V4B and it has been serviced and now has all good 7027a, caps, etc. so it is a fresh in-modified V4B. At some point I will be able to A/B these and am interested to see if there is a huge difference in tone. I actually don’t expect an enormous difference, but maybe just more clean headroom out of the V4/6550’s.

The plan is to leave the V4B (7027a) and the B40 4x10 cab at one of my bands’ studio. I’ll use the V4 (6550) and V4 4x12 cab live for both bands I’m in. The other band, that I have been in for around 7-8 years, which has a bigger studio space, is where my old SVT and 810e lives. I have somewhat come to realize that there may not be to many places I’ll be playing anymore where an 810 will be necessary or appropriate. I seem to be in that middle ground of small stage venues where most times I will not be running through FOH (small bars) and the V4 will just handle those right. In the occasional venue where there is a “sound guy”, and everyone is mic’ed and/or direct, then the V4 and 4x12 will be more than adequate. And if I should ever be so fortunate to play a larger stage, I still have the old SVT/810e. If you showed me all the cool gear I have now, back in the 90’s, and said “some day this will all be yours” I’d say you were lying.
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nice, thx. yeah, that's the common mod. Would you know if the B+ was augmented? did your guy tell you how much (if any) the Wattage went up?..

totally with you on gear I thought I would never have.....and then you when acquire it...
 
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#226,446
Chucky Stiletti said:
nice, thx. yeah, that's the common mod. Would you know if the B+ was augmented? did your guy tell you how much (if any) the Wattage went up?..

totally with you on gear I thought I would neve have.....and then you then acquire it...
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I can find out about the B+ when I get back in town. I know the amp is putting out a solid 110 clean watts, but not sure what it was when original.
 
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#226,448
godofthunder59 said:
A little bird has told me Gibson will be making the Nonreverse 60's pickups available for purchase. I'll know more shortly.
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Stealth57 said:
How are these different from the ones in a VP?
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I much prefer the Gibson, they actually make bass - it's great news though as I'll want a set for my Orville - Yay Gibson!
 
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#226,450
wolfkeller said:
It might seem odd, but it really BOTHERS me that guitar cabs (4x12) are bigger than bass cabs(4x10). Obviously we know why but I feel like bass is so much bigger and more powerful, they should be bigger. I always run 2 810s and still feel its not enough. No, not compensating or any of that nonsense, more just looks bad ass to me.
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The visuals matter. It's one of the reasons I still schlep around an ACC 360 stack when I can get away with it.
 
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#226,451
Gaolee said:
The visuals matter. It's one of the reasons I still schlep around an ACC 360 stack when I can get away with it.
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Indeed.
FB_IMG_1666893465538.jpg
 
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#226,454
Stealth57 said:
How are these different from the ones in a VP?
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I find the Gibby NR pups to be a bit warmer than the VP pups, the VPs sound a bit more aggressive. Personally, I like the warmth of the Gibby pups and the ability to brighten them to taste with string changes if needed. The VP pups are also fantastic and regardless of string selection they seem to keep a lot of their aggressive nature. There’s probably at least a 90% overlap in tone between the two pups, with the VP reaching a bit further on the top end and the Gibby a bit further on the bottom end.
In my book, it’s Gibby pups to hold the foundation and drive the beat and VP pups to cut through and stand forward in the mix. YMMV
 
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#226,456
Chucky Stiletti said:
nice, thx. yeah, that's the common mod. Would you know if the B+ was augmented? did your guy tell you how much (if any) the Wattage went up?..

totally with you on gear I thought I would never have.....and then you when acquire it...
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I didn't see the original post but I remember reading that the 70's V4-B's output could be increased about 20 watts just by using 6550's instead of 7027A's although I think the 6550's needed a lot more current and those things already ran hot, if not about them........never mind :laugh: I had one years ago.
 
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#226,460
bobyoung53 said:
I didn't see the original post but I remember reading that the 70's V4-B's output could be increased about 20 watts just by using 6550's instead of 7027A's although I think the 6550's needed a lot more current and those things already ran hot, if not about them........never mind :laugh: I had one years ago.
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more power by just replacing the tubes with 6550s?….doesn’t sound right..
 
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