Thunderbird Club

[KaraQ]

Sounds nice. I kinda swore off single coils a while back, but these have peaked my interest.

They're the best single-coils I've personally used, but I'm no expert that's used every available option. But I'm very happy with the upgrade, they did what I wanted - kept the basic tone of the bass, are significantly quieter (almost silent), and resolved the falling-apart 30-plus-year-old wiring/pre-amp issue that bass had.....

 

[bobyoung53]

Does Marshall sell bass amps?

1970 Marshall Major, came in both bass and lead models, this is a lead, change around a few components and it switches to a bass model, I may do that.

 

[GBassNorth]

Isn't that pretty normal for Metallica bassists? Even Cliff, unless he was doing show-y, solo-y stuff got pretty buried under the guitars, imo.

Yes. That’s why I find it odd that EMG would select a Metallica bassist to put out there as an example of what their product can do. If I was in the market for Jazz pups and read that EMG footnote I’d probably flip over to YouTube to find a clip of him playing in the band so I could hear how they sit in the mix, and I’d most likely be disappointed by what I hear from a bass standpoint.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

My cover band does that one. And I'm singing the verses. Lol, of course we do, and of course I am...

Dimarzio model one?

 

[GBassNorth]

plain obscene……
Telefunken Diamond Bottom ECC803s Gold Pin

Yikes! A good retube job with those could easily dwarf the cost of just buying a new amp. Then again, rare is rare and I guess they aren’t making em like that anymore.

 

[KaraQ]

Yes. That’s why I find it odd that EMG would select a Metallica bassist to put out there as an example of what their product can do. If I was in the market for Jazz pups and read that EMG footnote I’d probably flip over to YouTube to find a clip of him playing in the band so I could hear how they sit in the mix, and I’d most likely be disappointed by what I hear from a bass standpoint.

imo, probably because he's pretty high profile these days (more than with Suicidal Tendencies & Ozzy) as Metallica's longest running bassist, and sometimes plays basses with EMG pickups.....

 

[GBassNorth]

imo, probably because he's pretty high profile these days (more than with Suicidal Tendencies & Ozzy) as Metallica's longest running bassist, and sometimes plays basses with EMG pickups.....

He is a legend, that’s for sure. I can’t keep it straight anymore - is he a Warwick player or a Spector player now? Warwick likes to use MEC pups and Spector likes to use EMG pups, but for some reason I was thinking his EMG pup bass is a Warwick.

 

[JIO]

Interesting, I had standard EMG J’s before. They sounded nothing like these.

Only EMG's I use is the EMGX J-set in my Supersonic. (the whole 9v system) Super clean/refined/quiet and would be excellent for recording. I've yet to do that but will see if I can work it into our session in Jan/Feb.

 

[KaraQ]

He is a legend, that’s for sure. I can’t keep it straight anymore - is he a Warwick player or a Spector player now? Warwick likes to use MEC pups and Spector likes to use EMG pups, but for some reason I was thinking his EMG pup bass is a Warwick.

He apparently plays a bit of everything, but with Metallica, mostly Warwick from what I've seen.

But, even though it seems a lot of his basses have been modified, his signature edition Streamer comes with EMGs, & Bartolini pre-amp

Warwick Custom Shop Robert Trujillo Signature, 5-String - Turquoise Chrome - 17-3365

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Yikes! A good retube job with those could easily dwarf the cost of just buying a new amp. Then again, rare is rare and I guess they aren’t making em like that anymore.

they can’t have 1/10 the thd of a tube that costs 10 times less right? can they actually sound that much better?….doubt it…..probably cost a couple of DM when new….

 

[bobyoung53]

they can’t have 1/10 the thd of a tube that costs 10 times less right? can they actually sound that much better?….doubt it…..probably cost a couple of DM when new….

They're looking for high end Hifi owners, some of them will spend ridiculous amounts of money.......I'm just jealous.

 

[WillyW]

I need to square out for the headless adapter. Apparently I can use double ball end strings so I could measure carefully to make sure they can be used, but since I have never found double ball end strings I like I’m not going to bother. I could even go with a zero fret…

I’m not using a pickguard so I’ll fill in the holes and once I decide which pattern I’m using I’ll shoot a base coat.

I’m leaning toward the white paisley cloth, so white base coat….

blue/yellow could be interesting too, and I’m thinking the blue/pink for my Flying V

 

[WillyW]

This is the EMG JV set, it’s nice enough but I really dislike the battery, I tend to leave the instrument I'm using plugged in and I don’t want to have to remember to unplug it…

I bought a set of 7ender pickups to replace them, but ended up building another bass…

 

[JJR58]

Only EMG's I use is the EMGX J-set in my Supersonic. (the whole 9v system) Super clean/refined/quiet and would be excellent for recording. I've yet to do that but will see if I can work it into our session in Jan/Feb.

View attachment 4878961

And the very reason why i like the RipTides.

 

[JJR58]

No electric wiz here - but could it be a different Op Amp that runs at a higher voltage draw? And could that different op amp (which isn’t identical to their normal op amps) be voiced slightly different?

Also, I’ve been told by others in this club that installing a metal cover on a pickup does change the voicing a bit, IIRC it tones down some of the top end.

All that begs the question - so just how different do these metal covered Jazz pups sound from their plastic cover siblings? Less top end, smoother, more mellow? Or is it the opposite - brighter, gritty, bark, snarl and bite?

Great question, mine are chrome covered, can't speak to the pre-amp.
But i will say the tonal range is fantastic.

 

[JJR58]

Contribution to the Friends of 'Birds photo carpet bomb session...

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[JJR58]

Those are the things I'm curious about - I think it could be a combo of different? internal pre-amp and the stainless covers.......unfortunately, I don't currently have a set of EMG standard J pickups to compare against

If I run my Ibanez with the RTs eq-flat, through the standard, non-pad input on my amps, it sounds pretty nice & clean, even with a pick, if I don't get too aggro with it.
But, boost the bass, just about the equivalent of one, maybe 1 1/2, knob-mark, and it adds in a lovely amount of grit to go with the added bottom end. Love it!

Ah, we have one slight difference here.
Mine are wired passive, standard VVT.
The pre is still involved. But maybe the wired passive thing is the secret sauce for me.

 

[Gaolee]

Contribution to the Friends of 'Birds photo carpet bomb session...

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Looks like a Dimarzio One pickup. It will sound great.

 

[Thumper]

Is that JPJ (uprow, 2nd from right) inspired by Max Webster's Mike Tilka?

It belonged to a studio musician, and had 2 separate circuits with separate outputs. Since he was a studio guy it had no tone control. It also had Lollar Js.

I bought it complete body only, and added a 1 piece vintage spec P neck , and replaced the Mexican P PUPs with a Lollar P. I had a custom wiring harness made using CTS, a J/P/JP toggle, series/parallel for the J, and a tone. So I guess it's one of a kind.

 

[Bassmike62]

Left to right: 2011 Fender American Special Jazz, Squier P body w/ Jazz neck and a MIJ Fender Aerodyne Jazz.