Thunderbird Club

[JJR58]

EMG's are low impedance and normally active (using their own pre). They have a very clean, neutral sound - The 9v EMGX system is in my Supersonic (with flats).

View attachment 5029742

I have the EMG Geezer Butler P-pu in my Glam P/J (passive) and it sounds more or less like a classic P-bass.

View attachment 5029733

I kept my EMG's that i replaced in my Non-Fender Jbass.
What i still like about them is exactly their neutral sound.

One day they may go into a bass i don't own yet.
Who knows what that bass would be anyway.

 

[BklynKen]

I was playing along to a live version of Dreaming. 8^) With songs like these, I try to play them as close to something the artist did as possible, just for reference and to work on my skills. Then I decide whether to do something else with it. For something as iconic as WR, I'll typically stick close, anyway, because if you play that song, people expect to hear something similar to the record, and the bass part is mostly easily identifiable.

The other song is one we play at church. I completely invented my part from tabs and jamming, so it should be a slam dunk.

I usually have no issues getting it to sound good through the Rumble, and the settings were the normal ones. Hence blaming my ears.

Yikes! That seems way off the map in terms of pricing. That ENT must think they're literally the gold standard.

Here's a really fun bass line to play around with.

 

[bobyoung53]

I came very close to buying a running 1950 Cadillac hearse for $100 back in the mid '70s. It had no glass. What could possibly go wrong? But it was far enough away that I couldn't get there to check it out. Oh, well. Probably saved me from a whole lot of hassle. Trying to find glass for a 1950 hearse probably would have been pretty tough, even that long ago. And I hate to think about what kind of floorboards it had left.

Hearses were just the thing for the upscale hippies.

 

[MCF]

I don't have a mental sound for either Barts or EMGs, although I understand both have a signature sound.

EMGs have a variety of options. You can turn a Thunderbird into a P bass or a J bass, or a Stingray, etc. Although I wouldn’t want any of that. I don’t think that they have something I’d ever want in one of my Thunderbirds. YMMV.

I might try a set of Barts at some point.

 

[MCF]

I was playing along to a live version of Dreaming. 8^) With songs like these, I try to play them as close to something the artist did as possible, just for reference and to work on my skills. Then I decide whether to do something else with it. For something as iconic as WR, I'll typically stick close, anyway, because if you play that song, people expect to hear something similar to the record, and the bass part is mostly easily identifiable.

The other song is one we play at church. I completely invented my part from tabs and jamming, so it should be a slam dunk.

I usually have no issues getting it to sound good through the Rumble, and the settings were the normal ones. Hence blaming my ears.

Yikes! That seems way off the map in terms of pricing. That ENT must think they're literally the gold standard.

Lots of fraud in the PI game here. A whole lot.

 

[PillO]

TB+ set for sale. No connection. If you want to upgrade your vintage Thunderbird.

Gibson Thunderbird Bass Pickups | Reverb

I will respectfully suggest that upgrade should probably always be in quotes. Or perhaps a better word might be change.

We all like different things and what is an improvement for one may be an impairment to another.

And with that I will dismount my philosophical horse.

 

[Gaolee]

EMG's are low impedance and normally active (using their own pre). They have a very clean, neutral sound - The 9v EMGX system is in my Supersonic (with flats).

View attachment 5029742

I have the EMG Geezer Butler P-pu in my Glam P/J (passive) and it sounds more or less like a classic P-bass.

View attachment 5029733

I wonder how they would compare with Alumitones. Those are almost like piezo pickups, except they don't have impedance problems with amps like piezos often do.

 

[PillO]

EMG's are low impedance and normally active (using their own pre). They have a very clean, neutral sound - The 9v EMGX system is in my Supersonic (with flats).

IIRC EMGs are truly active. Whereas many "active" basses have passive pickups with a pre-amp, I think EMGs have one or more transistors in the pickup that impart low impedance and do not work without a power source. Or my memory might be faulty.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

IIRC EMGs are truly active. Whereas many "active" basses have passive pickups with a pre-amp, I think EMGs have one or more transistors in the pickup that impart low impedance and do not work without a power source. Or my memory might be faulty.

I think you are correct…

 

[BklynKen]

I will respectfully suggest that upgrade should probably always be in quotes. Or perhaps a better word might be change.

We all like different things and what is an improvement for one may be an impairment to another.

And with that I will dismount my philosophical horse.

That's what the was meant for. Tongue-in-cheek.

 

[BklynKen]

IIRC EMGs are truly active. Whereas many "active" basses have passive pickups with a pre-amp, I think EMGs have one or more transistors in the pickup that impart low impedance and do not work without a power source. Or my memory might be faulty.

These I think are truly passive.

Invalid Link Removed

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I will respectfully suggest that upgrade should probably always be in quotes. Or perhaps a better word might be change.

We all like different things and what is an improvement for one may be an impairment to another.

And with that I will dismount my philosophical horse.

Or just add a cheesy grin...

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Here's a really fun bass line to play around with.

Very cool.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

IIRC EMGs are truly active. Whereas many "active" basses have passive pickups with a pre-amp, I think EMGs have one or more transistors in the pickup that impart low impedance and do not work without a power source. Or my memory might be faulty.

They make active and passives, as I understand it.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

These I think are truly passive.

Invalid Link Removed

Has anyone here done a comparison of these with other TB pickups?

 

[JJR58]

IIRC EMGs are truly active. Whereas many "active" basses have passive pickups with a pre-amp, I think EMGs have one or more transistors in the pickup that impart low impedance and do not work without a power source. Or my memory might be faulty.

I'm nowhere near a technical minded person.
But these particular ones i have, (according to what little i know), were wired passive, but still require the pre-amp that accompanies them.
So, my feeble mind here questions how are they passive then?

 

[BklynKen]

Very cool.

If you're not familiar, that's Vangelis on keyboards and the kaftan-wearing legend Demis Roussos on bass and vocals.

 

[JIO]

IIRC EMGs are truly active. Whereas many "active" basses have passive pickups with a pre-amp, I think EMGs have one or more transistors in the pickup that impart low impedance and do not work without a power source. Or my memory might be faulty.

They can work w/o a power source but work optimally with one. Years ago I bought a Ric 4003 that someone put an EMG J pu in and it worked fine as passive. I've seen pu's from the past (possibly EMG's) that had some sort of white switch on them that did something.

 

[JIO]

I kept my EMG's that i replaced in my Non-Fender Jbass.
What i still like about them is exactly their neutral sound.

One day they may go into a bass i don't own yet.
Who knows what that bass would be anyway.

It makes for a very good recording bass. Guitarists also like them because they are neutral - that way they can use all sorts of effects w/o undo colouration from the pu's.

 

[Gaolee]

I really need to hear you playing drums where it sounds like "a mediocre bass player, playing a Thunderbird through an ACC amp."

Are you sure you really want to hear that?