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Thunderbird Club

#237,044
Happy Birthday Marshall!

California daze!

Lbrmh8i.jpg
 
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#237,048
vbass_2000 said:
In 1979 I went to see the Babys open for Triumph at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh. Triumph apparently thought that the Babys were stealing the show so after about the fifth song into the Babys set Triumph sent their roadies out on stage to start taking away the Babys equipment as they were playing. That turned into an open brawl between both band's roadies on stage right behind the band. It culminated with the most violent mic drop I've ever seen by John Waite. When Triumph finally hit the stage they were savagely booed after every song. I loved it.
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Some times that's a manager's decision. Aerosmith tried that with Kansas and Led Zep's huge manager (Peter ?) tried to undermine Grand Funk for upping LZ. As I recall Aerosmith was in the habit of disconnecting the opening band's equipment if things were going too well. Kansas set up a dummy system and when frustrated trying to figure out what to disconnect the the bass player (big dude) threatened harm on someone from Aerosmith, might have been Tyler. Been a while since I saw that in a documentary.
 
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#237,056
GBassNorth said:
Spot on Marshall!

The EB14 is a tone monster that easily runs in the same sonic circles as a 2015 Tbird but has that familiar and more accepted Fender look to the body. In humbucker mode it smashes a P bass much like a Greco does (massive output from the DeCola pickups) or pull up on the volume pots to split into single coil mode and it’s very much in Jazz Bass territory (without the hum).

I have a number of 5 string basses and I will say this one has about the widest fretboard I’ve ever played. Weight is on par with other 5 string basses I have, maybe lighter than most. I bought it as NOS in 2016 before I was really into Tbirds. It bridged the gap between my Gibson short scale SG Supreme basses and my Fender P and Jazz basses.

Interestingly enough I’ve always referred to it as Gibsons shot over the Fender bow. It’s truly an extreme case of Gibson trying to out Fender Fender. Of course Fender took the first shot at Gibson with their Modern Player Telecaster bass, which to my ears sounds more like a Gibson than any Fender I’ve ever played. I have both and use them interchangeably, but I’m finding it harder to get around quickly on 5 strings these days as arthritis becomes more challenging. Hence, the EB goes on the block - softly and slowly, I love it so much I really hate to let it go.

Gibby info…
Gibson.com: Gibson USA Five-String EB Bass
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Since I have both a 2015 Thunderbird and an EB, I can say that they sound very similar, but that wood does indeed make a bit of difference. The maple/ash EB is just a bit brighter sounding than the all mahogany Thunderbird.

Picking up a 2015 Thunderbird is why I let the EB go in the first place. My brother had played it in my basement and loved it at the moment. I found it for $500, delivered, and had bought it on a whim. I sold it to my brother for the same price, thinking the Thunderbird would be exactly the same. The deal with my brother was that if he ever sold the EB, he had to let me buy it first. He decided he wanted to go back to only Fenders, so I bought it back from him. I won't be making the same mistake again. It is different from a Thunderbird. I think it might actually be lighter than a Thunderbird as well. It's a smaller instrument, so that makes sense. I haven't seen one for $500 since picking up that one right at the bottom of their value, in 2015 or so. I didn't have a 2015 Thunderbird yet, and I don't remember if those were even around yet when I got the EB. One of the best $500 I ever spent.

Gibson stopped making them as soon as people started discovering them. Because Gibson. Doh!
 
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#237,058
Happy birthday Marshall!

dagrev said:
Kansas set up a dummy system and when frustrated trying to figure out what to disconnect the the bass player (big dude) threatened harm on someone from Aerosmith, might have been Tyler. Been a while since I saw that in a documentary.
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Dave Hope. He was indeed a big guy during the bands early lean years but when they got bigger circa '76 Hope got leaner. Must have been the same stuff that got Steve Walsh out of his organ stool sporting Adidas shorts while headstanding on his Hammond. Shirtless of course.
Hope is a priest nowadays. He had a great bass sound especially on "Song For America" (a muscular picked P-bass, not unlike Ray Shulman in Gentle Giant).
 
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